


Hunters for Hire at the Hot Spring

by JijiAndGecko



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Feels, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Light Angst, Modern Era, some swears, sorta like ghostbusters?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:26:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29464971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JijiAndGecko/pseuds/JijiAndGecko
Summary: Modern AU - Kagome and Sango work at one slayer company, Inuyasha and Miroku work at another (essentially like a ghostbusters service, they exterminate troublesome demons in the modern age).  What happens when they both get called to slay at demon at Onsen Jinenji?  Trouble.  Romance.  Friendship?  Will Inuyasha finally be able to get over his messy breakup with Kikyo?  Will Sango murder Miroku instead of the demon?  Where's Shippo?? (Not in the story, sorry, he wasn't helping the plot enough.)
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/InuYasha, Miroku/Sango (InuYasha)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 16





	1. You?!

“Yes, mmm-hmm. Alright. Well, we’re very happy that you were pleased with our services. Mmm-hmm, no that’s quite alright. No, you don’t need to do that; just the total that’s on your invoice will be fine. I’m sorry but there are strict rules at the company for not dating the customers. Yes, that includes going to dinner. That’s quite alright. Yes, I will let you know if that changes in the future,” Sango said through gritted teeth. “Alright, goodbye now. Just pay the invoice. Thank you. Bye.” Sango slammed the phone down into the receiver. “I swear to everything, Kagome, if one more crusty old man hits on me today, I’m going to lose it!”

“Ugh, tell me about it,” Kagome said, walking back into the office with a stack of files. “How come it’s always old men at run down temples or ancient houses that call for demon slayings? Why can’t we have the occasional call for an amusement park or a night club?” She sighed and started filing their paperwork into the bulky metal cabinets that took up a fair portion of their office.

Sango’s family had been in the demon slaying business for as long as anyone could remember, and it was assumed that one day Sango would retire from active slaying and take over as the president of the company, although she had no desire to take on such a position and secretly planned to pass that position on to her younger brother, Kohaku. In the meantime, her father was the president and Sango was one of his best slayers, often being the one to train new recruits, like Kagome, or go out on more difficult jobs. The work itself she enjoyed, however the people could be tiring and inappropriate. Since Sango was single she frequently had to reject offers to be set up with the children or grandchildren of the customers they were serving. On more than one occasion Sango had invented a fake boyfriend just to get out of an uncomfortable situation. Kagome, on the other hand, never seemed to be bothered by the offers to set up blind dates, or even arranged marriage proposals, even though she encountered this twice as often as Sango did. Kagome had been a new recruit about two years ago. Her family, the Higurashi family, had a long history of shrine work and strong ties to spiritual power. Although not a slayer by trade, she had responded to an ad seeking to hire and train slayers with spiritual powers and had quickly bonded with Sango and become a decent slayer in her own right. The two girls had become fast friends and usually went out on work trips together.

“Maybe because young people don’t care about demons as much,” Sango offered. “Most of the people our age either think they’re fun to play around with or they just flat out don’t exist.” She turned to look at their schedule on the wall. “Looks like it’s going to be a slow week, there’s nothing else on the schedule for the next few days.”

“Oh, Sango, you know what this is a perfect time for?”

“No.”

“I haven’t even told you my idea,” Kagome protested.

“You’re going to suggest we go out and check out a new club or a fancy bar or something aren’t you?”

“There’s nothing wrong with having a girl’s night, Sango. And, actually, I found something that might be a little more your speed. There’s a hot spring that’s not too far from here that’s been getting a lot of good reviews lately.”

“A hot spring?”

“Yeah! They’ve been open for years but recently they closed down for a few months to do some renovations and people have really been raving about it. It’s only about an hour and half away by train and last I checked, they still had reservations available for the next few days,” she said, ending in a sing-song voice.

“Well, it has been a while since we took a vacation,” Sango murmured.

“Exactly! So we deserve this, we’ve been working so hard, Sango! Even two days off would feel so nice. Just imagine: the water, the steam, the _massages_ , and all that pampering we could get done?” Sango glared but Kagome could tell her resolve was weakening. “Besides, with how popular this place seems to be getting, this might be our only chance to get in and enjoy ourselves before they are totally overrun with tourists.”

“What’s this place called?”

“So you’ll come?”

“No, I’m not agreeing to anything yet. I just want to look it up and see if it’s really as good as you say it is.”

Kagome abandoned her filing and bustled around to Sango’s laptop, hijacking it and typing something into the search bar rapidly, pulling up the homepage for Onsen Jinenji. Picturesque photos scrolled by on the welcome screen, showing off traditional wooden buildings with high ceilings and tasteful, minimalistic decorations. The rooms looked spacious and comfortable and of course the baths looked serene. “They allow humans and demons here but the reviews say the demons that come are mostly harmless little demons, like kitsune or peaceful sprites.” Sango made a noncommittal noise. “And, there are a ton of options for baths, there’s a whole section of the onsen that’s just for humans and then it’s divided into the women’s only, men’s only, or the coed,” she said with a little nudge.

It wasn’t that either Sango didn’t _want_ a boyfriend; it was more that she wasn’t interested in dating just to be dating someone. A relationship like that would take work and Sango hadn’t met anyone that held her attention long enough for her to consider dating. Kagome, on the other hand, was just looking for someone interesting enough to hold a conversation with. Most guys she met devolved into showering her with compliments or cheesy lines within a few minutes, and she would lose interest shortly thereafter when it became clear that the guys weren’t interested in getting to know her at all. Neither woman had dated extensively, in fact, the most successful relationship they had known of people their age, was Kagome’s cousin Kikyo who had dated a guy for a few years before it ended in a messy breakup. Kagome didn’t often see Kikyo, mostly for holidays or the occasional weekend trip, but she had heard, and passed along to Sango, most of the stories many times. Kikyo had been a slayer for a time but had grown tired of the constant battling and wanted out of the game. She had met her now ex-boyfriend through work and for a time it seemed like the two were going to quit together and start over with new jobs somewhere else. But there had been some fight, Kikyo never liked to get into the details of that particular argument, and they had parted on bad terms, with Kikyo quitting and the guy staying in the business.

“Here, you can click around the site and see what you think,” Kagome said as the phone started ringing. “They’ve still got bookings available tomorrow so we should book soon if you think you’ll like it. _Slayer Tribe_ , this is Kagome speaking, how may I help you,” Kagome said, shifting into her customer service voice. “Oh, hello, yes I’ve heard of you.”

Sango passed Kagome the clipboard and pen they used to take down new requests and continued to scroll through the website, not really listening to Kagome’s side of the phone conversation. It _did_ look like a pretty nice place, but you could never trust what the website had to say. She searched up independent reviews and started reading what other people had to say. Overall the reviews held up, people liked the renovations and said that the staff were very accommodating and friendly, if a bit intimidating at first. Kagome had started tapping on the clipboard and trying to show it to Sango but there was another article that had caught her eye.

“RECENT ATTACKS SPOIL PEACEFUL ONSEN VACATION FOR MANY”

“Great, we’ll see you first thing tomorrow, then,” Kagome said, hanging up the phone.

“Kagome, did you hear about this? Apparently there have been a sudden series of demon attacks-“

“At Onsen Jinenji, who just hired us to come take the care of the problem,” Kagome interrupted.

“Wow, talk about coincidence,” Sango said. “So that was the owner on the phone?”

“Yup,” Kagome said, holding up the clipboard she had tried to show Sango. “Apparently in all the years they’ve been open they’ve never had a problem with demons aside from an occasional rowdy guest, but just within the last week there have been almost nightly attacks from some kind of powerful demon, the kind that’s never come to stay at the onsen before.”

“So much for a getaway,” Sango mumbled. “But we’ll get to see the place at least.”

“Well that’s the best part, Sango, apparently the demon has only been attacking in the evenings so we’ll have the whole day open to _investigate the premises_ , if you catch my drift.”

“Kagome we can’t slack off the whole day.”

“Of course not! I’m just saying, if we want to talk to other guests there’s no reason not to poke around a little while we’re in the water. And you know any good slayer always does an investigation of their surroundings before attempting a slaying, maybe we just take an extra close look at some of the amenities while we’re at it.”

Sango sighed, “It _does_ look really nice there. Alright, not like we have a choice in the matter anyway. I’ll book the train tickets and we’ll leave first thing in the morning.

Kagome whooped. “Onsen Jinenji here we come!”

***

“Okay, how about this one –“

“No.”

“I haven’t even told you what it is yet,” Miroku whined.

“Let me guess, it’s a nightclub where a bunch of drunk people have claimed to see a demon but really it’s just going to turn out to be a bartender who figured out that he gets more tips if he wears horns.”

“Inuyasha, I wouldn’t pitch the same thing more than once, have a little faith in me.”

“Uh-huh,” he muttered. “I’ve told you before, this job isn’t about going to clubs and trying to hit on girls. And if we keep showing up at places unannounced and declaring that they need our services, people are going to think we’re frauds and stop calling. I ain’t gonna let that happen on my watch!” Inuyasha may not have liked it but his position at the family company was the only thing that kept him in a comfortable apartment with enough money for groceries. His father had started a demon slaying business when he had been a young man and for whatever reason it had exploded into being the number one slayer business in western Japan. When he had died, the company had passed over to Inuyasha’s older half-brother, Sesshomaru, but had apparently come with the stipulation that Inuyasha start working there as soon as he was old enough. Inuyasha was free to leave the job at any time, he often got the feeling that Sesshomaru wished he would, but doing so would mean needing to find a new job with a decent salary. And since Inuyasha hadn’t gone to college and didn’t have what most considered “good people skills” he found himself shit out of luck. Not to mention that since he was a half-demon, many places wouldn’t even consider his  
application.

Miroku sighed, “But Inuyasha, this one’s really good. It’s a hot spring and there have even been _news reports_ that they’ve got a demon problem.”

Inuyasha huffed, “Well that stinks for them, but unless they call us, we ain’t going.” In the next room, one of the phones started to ring. “Go answer that, would ya?”

Miroku offered a half-hearted glare but dutifully went to answer the phone. If he left Inuyasha to talk to the customers they’d be out of business in a week. “Hello, Inu Slayers Incorporated, this is Miroku?”

Inuyasha returned to his keyboard, pecking out the notes from a recent trip to a nearby shrine that had come into possession of some cursed artifacts. The job had been almost frustratingly easy and he and Miroku had been in and out quickly, although Miroku had tried to linger to flirt with the daughter of the shrine caretaker. “Why yes, we _have_ heard of your recent troubles,” Miroku said, reappearing in the doorway and giving Inuyasha a smug look that was begging to be slapped off his face. Inuyasha growled. “We’d be more than happy to come take care of that for you.” Miroku wiggled his eyebrows. Inuyasha threw a stapler at his head. Miroku dodged it and Inuyasha could hear him confirming an appointment for tomorrow morning before hanging up.

“What is it now ya idiot,” Inuyasha growled as Miroku reappeared in the doorway.

“You know how you were just telling me that we couldn’t go check out the obviously haunted onsen unless they called us first?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I most certainly am not! Pack your bags Inuyasha; we’ve got a demon to slay!” Inuyasha groaned and looked at the calendar. The rest of the week had been blank, or carefully arranged so that other slayers were taking up handful of jobs that had come up, but he figured there would still be time to do this job. Even their most difficult jobs usually didn’t last for more than a day and a half, which would be plenty of time.

“So what’s this place called, anyway?”

“Onsen Jinenji, and guess what, they cater to both humans and demons, I doubt they’ll even bat an eye when you come through the door.” Inuyasha’s dog ears twitched in annoyance at that statement. “Plus, I  
think I read that the owner’s son is a half-demon, so she might just give us an extra good tip, or let us stay a few extra days on the house.”

“ _Keh_ , like that matters,” Inuyasha grumbled. “Just book the train tickets and tell me when we need to be at the station.”

***

The trip from the train station to the onsen had gone smoothly for Kagome and Sango. Sango always packed lightly and was usually the one to hold onto tickets or schedules. Kagome, meanwhile, always sought to be over-prepared and had arrived at the station with a bulging backpack as well as their rolling suitcase of gear. Even though demon slaying was still considered a real and valuable service, it had fallen out of fashion with the younger generation and tended to cause a bit of a stir if you were walking around with swords or other unusual weapons out in the open so the young women had invested in a suitcase that could conceal most of their tools, as well as working with some craftspeople to create weapons that could be disassembled for easy transportation.

When they arrived at the onsen they found it to be surprisingly lively for the early morning hour, people checking in, people checking out, most of them seeming unaware, or at least unbothered, by the news of the recent attacks. Despite the people, everything seemed peaceful for the moment so they headed inside the main building to check in with the owner and see what initial information they could gather. As they approached the desk they saw a pair of people already talking with a short, grey haired woman behind the counter. The first was a man with long silver hair who was bent over the counter, wearing a black jacket with a logo that Kagome found familiar emblazoned in red on the back along with baggy red pants. The second man seemed to be taking in the lobby and had much shorter black hair tied back in a small ponytail and was wearing a purple hoodie with black jeans.

Sango stopped in her tracks when she saw him. “Sango? What’s the matter?”

Suddenly everything was happening at once. The black haired man’s face lit up and he threw open his arms as he walked towards them. This got the attention of his silver-haired companion whose mouth immediately dropped open and whose face paled several shades.

“Son of a bitch.”

“Sango!”

“Kikyo?!”

“Who the hell are you calling – wait, _Inuyasha_?”


	2. Well you're here now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They learn about the demon that's been bothering the onsen, also we learn about Inuyasha's history with Kikyo. And the fist encounter with the demon!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies in advance for the battle scene, it's not exactly my strength, but I hope you enjoy the chapter anyway!

“Sango, do you know these guys,” Kagome whispered.

“Can’t speak for the dog guy, but the one in purple is this pervert Miroku. He works at a different slaying company, I always run into him at conferences and stuff, he’s such a flirt. What about you, do you recognize his friend?”

“I think he might be Inuyasha, Kikyo’s ex.”

“What, really,” Sango whispered, “This is the heartbreaker?”

Across from them, Inuyasha scoffed and rolled his eyes. He hooked an arm around Miroku’s neck and swiveled the both of them so their backs were to the girls. “Miroku who the _hell_ are they?”

“Well, the beauty in the pink dress is Sango. I keep running into her at slayer conferences, and the occasional job, but she’s never agreed to go out with me no matter how many times I’ve asked!”

“You mean she wasn’t charmed by you asking her to bear your children,” Inuyasha replied dryly. “What a shocker.”

“More importantly,” Miroku said, trying to peer over Inuyasha’s arm. “Is that the Kikyo I’ve heard almost nothing about? The one who totally dump-“

“Shut. It.” Miroku’s smug smile said he would stop talking but Inuyasha had clearly confirmed what he was thinking. Inuyasha shoved Miroku’s face and turned to face the woman at the front desk. “Hey, old bat, what gives? I thought you called us to take care of this slaying.”

The old woman behind the counter glared at Inuyasha but leaned around the counter and addressed the young women in the lobby. “Are you the kids from Slayer Tribe?” Kagome and Sango nodded. “Great, since you’re all here now, why don’t we go into my office and I’ll give you the details.” She opened a door behind the counter and disappeared inside an office that turned out to contain one large desk as well as two guest chairs.

Miroku pulled out one of the chairs with what he clearly intended to be a charming smile and offered it, “Ladies?”

Sango rolled her eyes and took the other available chair. Kagome, unsure what to make of Miroku, opted to stand behind her partner, leaving Miroku to awkwardly sit down and take the chair for himself. Inuyasha opted to cross his arms and pout in front of the office door.

“I’ll be honest with you; I called both of you to come here today because the demon we’ve been dealing is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I wasn’t sure that just one team would be able to take it out so I called you both. Every night this thing goes unchecked I run the risk of losing my entire business. I just sunk a lot of money into renovating this place so I can’t afford to lose it all now.”

“I see, I can understand why you would be concerned,” Miroku said, suddenly all business. “Can you tell us a little more about this demon?”

“So far it’s only been appearing after dark, when people have been gathering in the baths to watch the sunset and look at the stars while they soak. Mostly it seems to grabbing guests and pulling them below the water, but it’s also sent a few attacks towards some of the guest rooms. You can see where it’s attacked if you go out to the baths later today. When it appears out of the water it seems to be in the form of an oyster demon. I need you to take care of it before it destroys any more buildings or ruins my reputation.”

“We understand,” Miroku said. “I’m sure I speak for everyone here when I say that we will do everything in our power to take care of this demon before it can hurt anyone else.”

The old woman seemed satisfied with this. “Alright, I’ll get your rooms ready and you can do as you please for the afternoon but I’ll be expecting you to be ready by nightfall.”

The group returned to the lobby to wait for their keys. “Well, it’s clear that we all have some history with each other so why don’t we make our formal introductions.” He grabbed one of Kagome’s hands in both of his, “I’m Miroku, and you are very beautiful. Tell me, w-“

“Knock it off, you pervert,” Sango said, giving his arms a good smack. “Don’t you dare use your dumb pickup line on Kagome.”

“Ahh, so your name is Kagome,” he said, “Hear that Inuyasha, her name is _Kagome_.” Inuyasha rolled his eyes. “Sango and I are old friends-“

“I’m not your friend.”

“And that grumpy lump is Inuyasha. He’s the muscle of our little team and an even older friend than dear Sango here.”

“I keep telling you I’m not your friend!”

“Well, I guess it’s nice to meet you? Sango was the one who trained me when I joined Slayer Tribe and we’ve been friends pretty much since we met.”

“Well any friend of Sango’s,” Miroku said with a smirk, “is sure to be a beauty that I want to get to know better.”

Kagome was trying to think of an appropriate way to reject him without making things awkward when the hostess thankfully interrupted with their room keys. Both rooms overlooked the main courtyard so the group ended up walking in the same direction. Kagome lingered behind Sango and Miroku, who had begun bickering over something, and managed to fall in step with Inuyasha. She was surprised that she hadn’t immediately recognized him, although she realized she had only seen a photo of him a few times. Kikyo didn’t have many of him or the two of them together and Kagome was pretty sure she had burned any that remained after they broke up. So far, he wasn’t exactly the cruel and uncaring brute that Kikyo had made him out to be, although he was definitely the strong and silent type.

“So,” she tried, “You’re Inuyasha.”

“Yeah, and?”

“Nothing, I guess, just - I didn’t expect I’d run into you on a slaying job. From what I’ve heard you’re a much more accomplished fighter than I am. I’ve just heard a lot about you so it’s kind of strange seeing you now in person.”

_Heard a lot about me_ , Inuyasha thought. Something nagged at the back of his brain that this ought to be significant but the only thing he could think of was that this girl must’ve spent too much time browsing the Inu Slayer’s website that Sesshomaru insisted they make. Every slayer had a photo and a little biography that listed their specialties and strengths. Miroku’s looked more like a profile on a dating app, glamorous headshot, corny pickup lines, and exaggerations about his personality. Inuyasha was pretty sure his photo was either him scowling or half-blurred after he got tired of the photographer taking yet another photo and announcing that he need to “relax his face” or “try a natural smile.” Inuyasha was pretty sure his brother implemented the rule about needing to have a photo and a biography up on the website specifically to torture him. The only thing he hated more than getting his photo taken, was talking about himself. 

He looked down at her as she walked beside him, long black hair tied back in a ponytail, the kind of athletic build common amongst slayers; she had definitely been in this line of work for a decent while. Perhaps she had tried to apply at his company but gotten rejected for being too inexperienced. They were a big company but they only took on a handful of trainees each year. Slaying wasn’t exactly popular with people their age so there wasn’t a large pool to choose from but Inu Slayers prided themselves on reputation and were well known for weeding out the majority of individuals who applied. When she looked up again at Inuyasha and caught him staring her cheeks colored slightly. 

“What is it,” she asked. From her perspective he seemed like he was considering something serious. Just when he opened his mouth, though, Miroku announced that they boys had arrived at their room. Kagome and Sango’s room was farther down the hall so Kagome slipped past without another word.

Once inside their own room, Sango deposited her bag on the bed and spun on Kagome, “So _that_ was the fabled Inuyasha?”

“Yeah,” Kagome sighed, “Apparently. I gotta admit, he’s not exactly what I was expecting. He’s definitely not the kind of guy that Kikyo’s fallen for before, but he’s not as rude as I was expecting. The way Kikyo talks about him I would’ve expected him to act more like that guy Miroku.”

Sango groaned, “Don’t get me started on that guy, he’s selfish and flirtatious and rude, and just all around no good.”

Kagome blinked. “Sango, you’re blushing! You like this guy don’t you!”

“What? No! Of course I don’t!”

“Uh-huh, sure, Sango. Well you can have him, I’m definitely not interested.”

“Can we change the subject, please?” Sango set about unpacking their supplies and getting them ready for the evening patrol. “We’ve got quite a few hours before the sun goes down, maybe we should walk around and get a feel for the layout of this place, see if we can spot anything that looks out of the ordinary.”

“Sure, sounds like a good idea. We should also check out the baths.”

“Kagome.”

“What? In addition to indulging in the restorative qualities of the water, we can also ask some of the guests if they’ve seen anything unusual or can give us any other information about the attacks. If people are still checking in here then there must be something in the water that makes it worth risking your life.”

“Fine,” Sango agreed, “But we do the baths last.”

“Deal!”

The two women set out to canvas the onsen but found nothing terribly out of the ordinary. A few hallways were closed off for continued renovations or because of the recent attacks, but even an investigation of those areas held no significant clues. The onsen also hosted lounges, rooms for massage or spa treatments, a large laundry room, and a spacious storage area. However nothing seemed out of place or recently disturbed in a way that aroused suspicion. They decided to return to the baths and spend some time checking the water itself.

“If we do the co-ed bath, there’s likely to be more people,” Kagome said. “Besides, it’s probably better to start there and get it out of the way, especially if we’re hoping to avoid Miroku and Inuyasha.”

“Agreed. Let’s start there.”

“Ahh, and excellent choice, ladies,” a now familiar voice crooned over their shoulders, “I was just about to check out that bath myself, perhaps we can investigate together.” 

Faster than Kagome could process, Sango had spun around and smacked Miroku across the face, leaving a red, and distinctly hand-shaped, mark on his face. “Not a chance, pervert! Come on, Kagome, we’ll start in the women’s only baths.”

“Oh come on, Sango, I was just teasing! You don’t have to be so mean!”

“Sango are you sure you aren’t over-reacting to him just a bit,” Kagome whispered as they walked away. “He’s a flirt but he seems harmless enough.”

“Trust me, Kagome, that man is nothing but trouble.”

***

While Miroku had been out scouting, Inuyasha had been in their room, busy pouting over Kikyo and reliving the series of fights that had led to their breakup. Inuyasha would never admit it, but he had completely fallen apart after Kikyo had left. Miroku had been there to keep him functioning, but he was mostly going through the motions of everyday life for a long time after that. Miroku had never met Kikyo, Inuyasha had kept a clear boundary between his girlfriend and the rest of his life, but he was a perceptive person and had been able to connect the dots.

He and Kikyo had met through work. She had been a new recruit, excellent spiritual power, a willingness to fight, although she had always maintained she wasn’t interested in fighting but in restoring peace, and a thick enough skin to not be bothered by Inuyasha’s gruff nature. She intrigued him and the two had started dating after about a month of working together. Things were good for another couple of weeks but Kikyo had quickly begun to tire of the work she was doing and started talking about quitting. Inuyasha would’ve been sad to see her go but he had never been one to tell people what to do with their lives. But there was a catch. Kikyo wanted a clean break from the slaying world, totally and completely. So if she left, she was taking Inuyasha with her. For someone beautiful, smart, and talented like Kikyo, leaving wouldn’t be a problem; she could easily pick up another job and succeed just about anywhere. Although she was about as talkative as Inuyasha was, there was something about her that people tended to trust intrinsically. But for Inuyasha, this was the end of the line. He’d work this job until his body gave out and then maybe his bastard brother would set him up with a desk job or a retirement plan or some other miserable option until he gave up and ended things himself. They’d done one last job together and then Kikyo had presented her ultimatum. Inuyasha had to stay. So Kikyo left. Not before spitting curses at him, of course, leaving him numb and angry and crushed all at the same time.

Inuyasha crashed back into the present moment as he heard the sound of a key card unlocking the door and looked up as Miroku wandered back into the room. “Time to start getting ready,” he announced. “I did some snooping but nothing seems out of the ordinary. There’s definitely a demonic aura near the baths, but it’s faint. Most of the guests probably don’t notice it. You okay?”

Inuyasha shook his head to clear it, “’m fine.”

Miroku knew better than to push his luck and started unpacking the clothes he’d wear to fight the demon, specially designed clothing that looked light but had been reinforced with some ultra-thin padding and sutras sewn into the panels to provide some extra protection. Miroku would also take some sacred sutras and a collapsible staff into the fight to better harness his spiritual energy. He was human so he needed to rely on these things to keep himself safe. Inuyasha however, was a half-demon, so the only thing he took into battle was his trusty sword. He still wore his company jacket, Sesshomaru had told him it was good advertising and had strongly implied that if he ever saw a photo of Inuyasha working and not wearing it, he’d make a personal visit just to beat Inuyasha’s ass. Inuyasha despised his brother but figured that it was easier to wear the jacket than deal with him.

When Miroku was ready, they headed out towards the largest bath and took up a patrol, inspecting the milky waters and keeping an ear open for the arrival of the demon. Around the same time, Kagome and Sango arrived, and Inuyasha was again reminded of fighting with Kikyo, despite the changes in uniform. Both women were wearing tight black jumpsuits, similar to what Miroku wore, with extra padding attached over their elbows, knees, shoulders, and one piece attached over the stomach. Kagome also had a quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder, which frankly was _not_ helping the comparisons. Sango, however, had what had to be the biggest boomerang Inuyasha had ever seen slung over her shoulder.

“Alright, boys,” Sango said, beginning her own patrol, “Try not to get in our way too much when the demon gets here, okay?”

Inuyasha was about to make a scathing retort when the ground started to shake and the water began to swirl into a whirlpool, causing the guests to scatter. Long, watery tendrils reached out and made a grab for Inuyasha and Sango but were easily repelled by both fighters. Miroku threw some of his paper sutras into the center of the whirlpool and commanded the demon to show itself, which it quickly did, appearing suddenly and throwing a wave towards the gathered slayers. Sure enough, it was an oyster-like demon, hard and spiky outer shell that hinged open to reveal the smaller, vaguely humanoid demon within. 

“ _Keh_ , this small fry will be no problem.”

“I’ve got it! Hit the mark!”

“Inuyasha watch out!” Inuyasha had taken a running leap and was arcing his sword at the same time that Kagome had nocked and launched one of her arrows. Thanks to Miroku’s warning, he was able to avoid the hit from the spiritually laced projectile but had to abandon his attack in favor of redirecting the arrow.

“Watch where you’re aiming, you bitch!”

“ _Hey_ , I wasn’t aiming for you the first time but call me a bitch again and I’ll sure as hell aim for you the second time.”

Sango took advantage of the commotion and launched her boomerang through the air in a clean arc, slicing perfectly through the opening of the oyster. “Yes, that ought to take it out.” But much to her surprise, the demon seemed almost oblivious to the attack. “What the hell, that was a clean shot!”

“I’ll show you how it’s done,” Inuyasha remarked, taking a second leap and this time managing to land a clean hit, slicing off a good portion of the upper shell.

“Thanks for the opening, Inuyasha; sacred sutras ought to paralyze the demon inside!” Miroku’s sutras landed squarely on the demon inside the shell but it remained unfazed, almost oblivious to all the attacks around it. “What’s happening? Why isn’t it reacting?”

“Maybe you’re just not strong enough,” Kagome yelled, “I’ll get it for sure.” She nocked another arrow but was so focused on the target that she didn’t notice the tendril of water that had escaped the bath and was rapidly approaching. The tendril reached her before she could shoot, however, and yanked sharply on her leg, sweeping her off her feet and drawing her towards the water.

“Kikyo, _no!_ ” Inuyasha dove for the girl and slashed at the tendril, breaking it easily, before scooping up Kagome and depositing her away from the bath. “Kikyo, you have to be more careful than that.”

“I’m not-“ Before Kagome could finish Inuyasha had already leaped away and was preparing to attack the oyster again. Meanwhile Sango had reluctantly approached Miroku.

“Miroku, I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I need you to help me,” Sango yelled. “In the water, I think there’s something that’s controlling the oyster, those hits we’ve landed should’ve been enough to at least weaken this thing but it doesn’t seem fazed at all. I need you to force out whatever’s hiding in the water so I can finish it off.

“Right,” Miroku wasted no time rushing into the water where they had seen the whirlpool and thrust his staff down until it reached the bottom of the bath, channeling his spiritual energy through the staff and into the ground and water. Above them, Inuyasha’s strike connects and the oyster disintegrates, with the unfortunate side effect of also causing an enormous tidal wave to soak everyone in the area. “Well, it looks like whatever it is has disappeared for now, although I don’t think I was able to flush anything out of the water.”

“What do you think that was?”

“Whatever it was, it didn’t seem very interested in fighting back,” Inuyasha growled, sloshing out of the water. “Y’think it was even alive in there?”

“You mean you think it was being controlled? Like a dance of the dead situation,” Kagome asked, coming to join the group.

“Either that or it was some kind of puppet or illusion,” Sango remarked. “Although I haven’t heard of illusions being corporeal before.”

“Only incredibly strong demons would be able to summon an illusion that could not only deal out damage but sustain it as well. We’ll have to keep investigating and it would probably be good if we kept patrol overnight.”

“I’ll be able to handle it if it comes back,” Inuyasha volunteered. “The rest of you can go sleep or whatever.”

“We’ll take it in shifts,” Sango said. “We were hired for this job, too, so there’s no reason for you to do all the work yourself.” Inuyasha scoffed but didn’t argue. “If you want first watch then Kagome and I will go rest and come back in a few hours, then Miroku can take over for the morning shift.”

“Aww, Sango, is that your way of saying you’d like to have breakfast with me?”

“If you’re on patrol you’re not supposed to be eating breakfast, idiot!”

“Sango, you can go back to the room first, okay, I’ll be along in a couple of minutes,” Kagome said, interrupting what was sure to be another bickering session.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I just, feel like I should thank Inuyasha for that save during the fight. I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay?”

“Alright, if you’re sure. C’mon, idiot, we’ll see if we can spot anything on the way back.”

Once they were gone, Kagome approached Inuyasha, who had climbed some of the large, decorative rocks that surrounded the bath and had taken up a perch there, legs crossed and arms folded across his chest, holding his now sheathed sword close against his body while he peered into the opaque water. “Hey,” she said, earning only an ear twitch in response, “I just wanted to say thanks for, you know, taking care of that water tendril for me.” A pause. “And, I guess I should apologize for almost hitting you with my arrow. That was an accident, though; I promise I’m not trying to take out the competition on this job.”

“You should be more careful. You’re going to get hurt again.”

“What do you mean again? Have we worked a job together that I’ve forgotten about?” Silence. “I’ll have you know I’ve been in this position for a few years now, I know what I’m doing. That tendril caught me by surprise but I would’ve been perfectly capable of getting free of it myself if you hadn’t swooped in.” When it became clear that Inuyasha had no intention of even pretending to hold a conversation, Kagome huffed. “Fine, I’ll leave. I guess that’s what I get for trying to be polite. Maybe she was right about you,” she muttered under her breath as she walked off. That was enough to earn a growl from Inuyasha but he just gripped his sword tighter and refused to go chase after her. The rest of the night passed slowly but without incident. Sango came to relieve Inuyasha, with Kagome pointedly offering to do a sweep of the perimeter first and by the time Miroku came for his shift, Kagome’s irritation had faded and was replaced by curiosity about what would happen the next night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I'll be updating twice a week now that I'm nearly finished. Please look out for my next chapter on Thursday!


	3. Did it Have to be You?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sango and Miroku head off to look for clues together and Sango ends up with more than she bargained for as Miroku gives in to old habits.

“Remind me again why the two of us are working together today to snoop around for clues?”

“Well, if it was just members of one company, the other might get accused of slacking off, or there might be a suspicion that one was hiding something important from the other just to make their own company look good.”

“Okay that part makes sense,” Sango said, “But why couldn’t I work with Inuyasha and you work with Kagome?”

“Because I could never turn down an opportunity to work side by side with you, my dear Sango.” Sango scowled. “Besides, it seems like Inuyasha and Kagome might have some things they need to work out together? I’m sure you’ve noticed he keeps calling her the wrong name, I guess she must look a lot like his ex.”

“Wait, what do you know about Kikyo?”

“I mean, not very much. I know he met her when she started working at our company but it was a little before my time – I was still in the trainee program when she was going out on jobs so we didn’t really cross paths - so I’m afraid I don’t really have any other details besides the fact that they dated for a while but something happened and he took the breakup pretty hard. Wait, what do _you_ know about Kikyo?”

“She’s Kagome’s cousin! I have been hearing stories about her for almost as long as Kagome has been working with me!”

“Oh, that explains his reaction,” Miroku murmured. “I don’t think he ever really got over Kikyo so all this must be hitting him pretty hard.”

“Your words sound so concerned but you have a distinctly unconcerned smirk on your face.”

“Oh come on, Sango, surely you can appreciate some quality gossip when you come across it. Inuyasha will be fine, more or less, besides it’s not like he would ever open up to me. Once, _once_ , he asked if he could talk to me then sat in silence for the next ten minutes before declaring it a good talk. Maybe Kagome will tell him off and it’ll help him move past Kikyo once and for all.”

“Well, she’s certainly not one to back down from a fight.”

“Then she’ll be fine,” he said as they began investigating the laundry room. “Have you two been working together for a while?” And that’s how their day began, friendly conversation while they checked inside boxes and laundry bins, and even inside the machines themselves, unfortunately turning up nothing out of the ordinary. However, by the time they were halfway through the storage room, their conversation had taken a turn.

“And then she hits him with an ultimatum! I don’t know exactly what it was but it was definitely an all or nothing kind of deal.”

“Are you kidding me? That’s messed up, I mean, quit his job and start over somewhere totally new? I’m not saying he couldn’t do it but can you imagine him working a desk job or having to work side by side with someone all day? I mean, I’m his best friend but even I’m not allowed at his apartment for a week or two if we do an overnight job together.”

“I’m telling you, that’s what Kagome said happened, Kikyo wanted to quit and she was determined to take Inuyasha with her,” Sango said, digging halfheartedly through a box of miniature toiletries.

“And what did Kagome think of that decision?”

“Well, she’d never say this to Kikyo but I think she was kind of on Inuyasha’s side for that one. I mean, Kagome’s family doesn’t really have a history of being slayers so there wasn’t any pressure there for Kikyo to stay in the business. I think Kagome thought it was an overreaction because Kikyo was too overwhelmed by the work. I’m pretty sure she expected that Kikyo would take a few weeks to mull things over and end up going back to Inuyasha to make up but it looks like she has the same stubborn streak that Kagome has, as far as I know they haven’t spoken since.”

Miroku sighed, “No wonder he was so upset then. Have your entire life uprooted, again, and hope that things with this girl work out forever, or lose your girlfriend because you finally found some stability. That’s a difficult choice.”

“What would you have chosen if you were in that situation,” Sango asked, trying to act casually while examining industrial cleaning supplies.

“Oh well that’s easy, I choose the pretty girl of course,” Miroku said, climbing onto a crate to better inspect the top of a storage cabinet. “I’ve changed jobs many times over the years; I can establish myself just about anywhere, so might as well take a chance with a lovely lady.” Sango groaned. _I should’ve known_ , she thought. “What about you? Would you leave it all behind for a chance at love?”

Sango blushed scarlet. “What are you even – I don’t know! It’s different for me.”

“Oh?”

Sango sighed. “Slaying is a family business. I’ve been training to do this since I could walk, my father is the eldest and considered to be the head of all our extended family so it’s not exactly like his first born could just up and walk away. This is all I’ve ever known, I don’t think I could do anything else at this point, and doing it for someone else’s company would just feel like a betrayal. Besides, someone who really loves you wouldn’t make you choose between them and your family like that.”

“Perhaps you’re right. Hey, Sango?”

“What is it, Miroku,” Sango asked hesitantly, not wanting to look at her companion while her face still felt warm.

“Climb onto my shoulders, will you?”

“ _What?_ ” Sango’s face now felt warm for an entirely different reason and she whirled around to face Miroku who had gotten down on one knee and was beckoning her over.

“Oh don’t worry, I’m stronger than I look, I’m sure I can lift you.”

“That’s not what I was upset about, idiot,” Sango growled. “Why on earth would I get on your shoulders?”

“I think there’s something in the ceiling, but I can’t reach it, even if I stand on some boxes, so I need you to climb up there and see.”

“Oh,” Sango said, looking up and seeing that one of the ceiling tiles looked like it had been moved repeatedly. It was even slightly misplaced so that a tiny crack of blackness looked down at them. “Are you sure there’s no other way to get up there?”

“Well, you’re shorter than I am, so unless you’ve got some secret stilts hiding in your shoes, I think this is the only way.”

Sango frowned as her eyes darted around the room, trying to find any alternative that could get her into the ceiling on her own. Finding nothing, she reluctantly turned to Miroku, who for his part, appeared to be working very hard to present a calm and neutral face. “Absolutely no funny stuff while I’m on your shoulders, I can and will take you down if you try anything.”

“Oh, I believe you,” Miroku said, “And I promise, absolutely no funny stuff while you’re on my shoulders.”

Sango still felt like it was a trap but her desire to find out what was in the ceiling, and if it could help them finish the job, and put a healthy distance between them again, then she was willing to take the chance. Hesitantly, she stepped behind Miroku and stepped over his shoulders, settling her weight onto him and then tucking her legs around his sides, locking her ankles behind his back. “Ready,” he asked. Sango, not trusting her voice, made a noise of agreement and suddenly they were moving. Sango swayed as Miroku stood up unevenly and she found herself gripping his hair, his surprisingly soft hair, to stable herself. This time it was Miroku who yelped wordlessly.

“Sorry,” Sango breathed, “I just lost my balance a little.” Miroku, wisely, chose to press his lips together and ignore the half dozen phrases that had immediately sprung to mind in favor of not finding out how quickly Sango could kill him. “Are you okay,” she asked. Miroku, still not trusting his voice, simply made a similar noise of agreement. “Alright, then go to the left a little bit, a little more, okay now move forward a bit, seriously Miroku my arms are only so long, you’ve _got_ to move forward. Okay, I’m going to move the ceiling tile.”

“Well, what do you see?”

“I can’t see much, but I’ll see if I can feel anything.” _Oh I’m definitely feeling something_ , he thought. “Oh wait, there’s something here! Miroku there’s a box up here, and it’s not very dusty so I think it must have been put here recently. Either that or it’s been taken down frequently. I’ll grab it and pass it down to you, okay?”

Unfortunately for Sango, Miroku was too preoccupied with the feeling of Sango’s soft stomach pressing against the back of his head to warn Sango that the box might be heavier than she was expecting. He managed to get out, “Sango, wait!’” before she pulled the box through the opening and the sudden additional weight unbalanced them both. Sango tipped forward, pushing Miroku’s head down, and causing him to stumble. Sango tried to right herself and remain upright but Miroku had opted to press his hands against her shins in an effort to support her rather than throw his hands out to catch himself, and the two ended up tumbling forward and crashing onto the floor in a tangled, groaning mess.

With a moan, Sango pushed herself up onto her hands and did a quick internal scan of her body. She had dropped the box when they fell which had allowed her to use her hands to cushion her fall slightly, but her forehead throbbed where it had hit the floor anyway. Her knees were sore from the impact as well but nothing felt worse than bruised and she realized that Miroku must have broken most of her fall, meaning also that he had absorbed most of the impact.

“Miroku? Are you okay?” Sango pushed herself up and shifted her weight back, temporarily forgetting that she was still straddling the other slayer, who was sprawled facedown and motionless on the concrete floor. “Miroku? Hey, say something!” She scrambled backwards and stood up for a moment so that she could carefully turn him over. His head felt limp in her hands and she quickly sunk back down to her knees, careful to avoid putting her weight in his lap, and cradled his head. “Hey! Come on, wake up, I’d never forgive myself if you died because of something so stupid!” _And mortifying_ , she thought. _I didn’t realize how heavy the box was so I tipped us both over and then killed him when we fell? I’d be a disgrace to the family. I’d have to cover this up. But then what about Inuyasha, he’d figure it out for sure. Oh, but maybe he’s not dead. Maybe he’s just unconscious. I should check if he’s breathing._ “Miroku? Can you hear me?” Sango leaned her face forward, bringing it within inches of his.

“San-go,” he breathed.

“Miroku! You’re alive! Are you okay, are you in pain?”

Miroku’s eyes opened with effort and he took in Sango’s concerned face hovering inches above his own. “It was . . . . worth . . . it . . .” he breathed.

“Miroku, what are you-“ Sango suddenly tensed as she felt a hand appear on her backside, slowly caressing her. “You idiot,” she yelled, giving him a sharp slap across the face and leaping off him. “You promised no funny stuff!”

“And I kept my word, dear Sango,” he said, pushing himself up onto an elbow. “I promised no funny stuff while you were on my shoulders. I didn’t say anything about keeping my hands to myself if you crawled into my lap.”

Sango blushed scarlet and tried to stutter out a response before settling on, “ _Idiot pervert!_ ” and stormed out of the room.

“Sango, wait! I was just kidding! Come on!” Miroku scrambled up, wincing as he had taken the fall pretty hard, and stumbled to the doorway only to find that Sango had already fled and left no indication of where she had gone. “You forgot the box,” he said to the empty hallway.

With a sigh, he resigned himself to the fact that he’d most likely be completing the rest of the investigation by himself, though he spared a thought for Inuyasha and hoped his day with Kagome was going smoother than his own was. Limping dramatically back into the storage room, just in case Sango changed her mind and came back he figured the limp might earn him some pity points, and found the box that had put this series of events into motion. It was a rather plain wooden box, neatly finished with a simple wood stain with two metal handles on the short sides. In the fall the hinged lid had fallen open and some of the contents had fallen out. A few photos of a young woman and a handsome man, some letters with their wax seals carefully reaffixed onto the body of the envelope, other little trinkets, some little velvet pouches that he guessed may contain precious jewelry or other important items. It seemed like a memory box, but why it would be hidden in the ceiling of a store room was strange. And when he lifted it, it was slightly heavier than he expected it to be, but when he inspected it closer, there didn’t seem to be any other drawers or compartments.

_Perhaps the owner can shed some light on this_ , he thought, and carefully collected the box and headed towards the main lobby, hoping that he might catch sight of Sango along the way.

When he reached the lobby, he didn’t even have time to ask the owner if she recognized the box before she had descended on Miroku, gathering the box into her arms and exclaiming, “Where did you find this?”

Miroku laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, “Perhaps I can tell you in your office?” Once safely hidden away from any prying eyes or listening ears, he explained that he and Sango had found the box hidden in the ceiling of the storage room.

“Had a little fight with your girlfriend, eh,” she remarked. “I’ll have to thank her the next time I see her, though, since it brought these precious items back to me. These are mementos I saved from when I met Jinenji’s – my son’s – father all those years ago. He was a demon, you see, so we couldn’t stay together for very long, small towns and all that, but he often wrote to me and would send little trinkets and treasures from his travels. He was the one who sponsored the onsen in the first place. A sanctuary for demons and humans alike, a place where they could gather in peace.”

“He sounds like he was a wonderful person.”

The owner sighed wistfully. “He was indeed.”

Miroku cleared his throat and she returned her attention to the present moment. “Do you have any idea how that could’ve ended up in the storage room ceiling then?”

“No,” she said, “In fact I’ve been looking for this for some time now. It went missing when we did the renovations and neither my son nor I have been able to find it.”

“Well, I’m glad I could return these precious memories for you,” Miroku said, standing up. “Is there anything in there that seems to be missing, or perhaps, something that you don’t remember being there before?”

The old woman gently sifted through the items but shook her head, “No, I recognize everything in here and nothing seems to be missing.”

_Maybe it was just my imagination_ , Miroku thought, as he started back through the hallways of the onsen, _perhaps I hit my head harder than I realized when Sango fell on me._ On a hunch, he poked his head into the small lounge and bar area on his way back to the room, checking to see if perhaps Sango, or even Inuyasha and Kagome, had ended up there by chance. The good news was, he was right, and he could see Sango and Kagome sitting at a little table near the far wall. The bad news was, both women looked furious and seemed to be in the middle of complaining about the men they had spent their days with. Miroku decided it was better to give them both some space for the time being, and hurried back to their room to see just how badly Inuyasha had messed up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was such a fun chapter to write, I hope you enjoyed it! Coming on Sunday is the companion Kagome and Inuyasha chapter, I hope you'll look forward to it!


	4. Get it through your head!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inuyasha and Kagome search the onsen for clues and a variety of feelings bubble over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Companion to last week's Sango and Miroku chapter, I tried to capture some of that good early InuKag relationship drama/dynamics

_I know Miroku said that this was so that we couldn’t be accused of trying to keep secrets from each other or trying to sabotage the other company, but did I have to get stuck working in silence all day with this guy_ , Kagome thought to herself as she and Inuyasha investigated the outside perimeter of the resort. Miroku had caught the young women at breakfast and practically stolen Sango away before Kagome had had time to process what he’d said, leaving her alone with Inuyasha, who somehow seemed even more surly than he had the day before.

Her attempts at friendly conversation had all fallen flat, her probing questions had all been ignored or answered with grunts, she had even tried to feign a dramatic response to getting caught in a spider web but he had brushed it away while barely looking at her and muttered something about being happy to work on his own if she wanted to go back inside. He wasn’t even _looking_ at her! Kagome didn’t need to be friends with him – it wasn’t like they’d see each other again after this job – but she was determined to find out why he was acting so strangely around her.

She planted herself directly in front of him and said, “What is it gonna take for you to talk to me?”

For the first time that day Inuyasha looked her in the eyes. “You tell me, Kikyo, you said you wanted out but now I run into you here?”

“I’m not-”

“You were the one who gave me the ultimatum. How could you make me choose between those, Kikyo?”

“I keep telling you I’m not-”

“I mean, you’ve met my family. I had to fight to even make it this far and you-”

“I’M! NOT! KIKYO! Stop calling me that! My name is _Kagome_. Ka-go-me, got it?”

“What?”

“I don’t know who this Kikyo is,” she lied, “But whatever problem you have with her, leave me out of it.”

Inuyasha’s face fell an almost imperceptible amount. ”Of course you’re not her,” he muttered, turning back to the path.

“So, who is she anyway, this Kikyo woman,” Kagome asked, falling into step with Inuyasha. “An old friend?”

“Sorta.”

“An old _girl_ friend?” Inuyasha scowled. “Ah, I see. I guess thing’s ended badly then?”

Inuyasha huffed, “you could say that.”

“So what happened?”

Inuyasha glared down at her, but she could see a lot more emotions than just anger swirling through his amber eyes. She got the feeling that he once again wasn’t seeing her, but was seeing her cousin. _All those memories of his time with Kikyo must be rushing to the surface again now that I’m here_ , she thought. She wondered if he’d lie about why they broke up. “She told me I had to make a choice,” he muttered, “didn’t like my answer.”

“Oh,” Kagome said quietly. She had known that known that the two had broken up right around the same time that Kikyo had quit being a slayer and started her “normal” life but Kikyo had never gotten into the details of what happened. Kagome always assumed it was just one fight too many, or maybe that he was mad that she was leaving. “Do you miss her?”

Her question seemed to catch him by surprise. She watched his eyebrows furrow and caught just a second of wistfulness on his face as he whispered, “yeah,” before replacing his indifferent mask. “If she were here we would’ve already beaten this stinkin’ demon.”

Kagome scowled, “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Inuyasha seemed genuinely confused, “What are you so mad about all of a sudden?”

“Do you think I’m not strong enough to defeat a demon like that? I’ll have you know Sango and I are the top two fighters at our company, we couldn’t defeat that stupid demon last night because you boys kept getting in the way!”

“ _Keh_ , and who needed to save you from that stupid demon last night?”

“I could’ve saved myself you idiot,” Kagome realized she was shouting but she felt like she couldn’t stop. “Just because you jumped in immediately doesn’t mean that I couldn’t have taken care of it myself, you idiot! I can take care of myself and I can think for myself, thank you very much. You know,” she continued, now pointing her finger in his face, “I really thought if I ever met you that I could form my own opinion of you and you’d turn out to not be such a brutish, selfish, ignorant _idiot_ but I guess Kikyo was right about you.” Kagome spun on her heel and started to march away but Inuyasha caught her wrist and spun her around to face him. “Let go,” she snapped.

He did, but his stare kept her pinned in place for a minute. “How do you know Kikyo?”

Kagome crossed her arms over her chest. “She’s my cousin. She told me all about you but I always assumed that she was leaving out all your good qualities because she was mad at you. Now I’m starting to think she was right.” Inuyasha stiffened at that and Kagome felt a little shard of guilt appear in her stomach.

“Do and think whatever you want. Plenty of people had known me and hated me” Inuyasha said, turning away and walking towards the part of the building that was still under construction, “No skin off my back if you hate me even though you don’t know me. I’m going back work.”

Kagome’s guilt intensified as she watched him walk away. How would she feel if she had gone through a messy breakup and then ran into someone who looked a lot like her ex. If she had to work a job with that person, the same kind of job that she used to do with that person she cared about. She’d probably be pretty grumpy about it, too. And to top it all off, it had been a relationship between a human and a demon. Their world had come pretty far in terms of accepting demons and it wasn’t as rare as it had been for half-demon children to exist, but typically the ones that didn’t have any obvious identifiers – like dog ears – tended to be treated better. Maybe it was pressure from someone else that had forced them apart. Either way, Kagome decided to follow him and take a closer look at the construction area.

She was careful not to follow exactly where Inuyasha was going, but made sure to cross his path so he’d realize she was still there. Most of what she saw looked familiar to other construction sites she had seen. Tools and materials scattered around, plastic sheeting acting as temporary doors to stop dust from traveling too far, just normal stuff. Until she came across one room, the room was largely unfinished but somehow seemed more lived in than the other rooms. Tools were organized neatly against one wall, materials weren’t scattered around in haphazard piles but had been stacked in careful piles. Even the tarps seemed to almost suggest a bed more than anything else.

“Hey, Inuyasha,” Kagome called into the hallway, “come look at this.” Inuyasha’s face slowly appeared in the doorway of another room, deadpan as ever. “I think I found something,” Kagome offered. He cocked an eyebrow slightly but his curiosity seemed to win out and he joined Kagome in the organized room. “It looks like something has been living here. Do you think it could be the demon we’ve been fighting?”

He sniffed the air. “Nah, smell’s different.”

“So you do smell someone? Someone _has_ been living here?”

“Yeah, not sure why, though. If it’s not that demon, though, then it’s none of our business.” Inuyasha started back out of the room.

“Fine, I’ll look into it myself. Just because it isn’t the demon we fought yesterday doesn’t mean it still can’t be important,” Kagome muttered. She considered telling Inuyasha where she was going but decided he would probably be just as happy not knowing. She set off in the direction of the lobby but didn’t have to go far before she ran into the owner.

“Oh, you’re here,” the owner had said by way of greeting, “I was getting some complaints that two people were shouting near the construction area. I thought I should come and make sure you kids weren’t getting into trouble.”

“Oh, sorry about that, I didn’t realize there were other people around.”

“So, you and dog boy have a fight and now you’re off to work somewhere else?”

“Well you’re not exactly wrong but I was on my way to find you, actually. I found something in one of the rooms that’s under construction and I wanted to see if you knew anything about it.” Kagome explained what she had found but the owner seemed unfazed.

“Oh, that’s probably just where Jinenji has been sleeping.”

“Jinenji?”

“My son, he’s been helping with the renovations, he’s such a hard working boy, always has been. He’s a half demon, just like your dog friend, but he’s not quite as handsome so he prefers to work behind the scenes. He thinks he’d scare the guests but I keep telling him the guests here are used to seeing all sorts of demons, they’d get used to him, too.”

“Wait, a half demon? Inuyasha?”

“Yeah, didn’t you know? Once you’re familiar enough, they’re pretty easy to spot, like a secret club, ya know? Pretty boy probably had it easier than someone like my Jinenji but I’m sure he’s got plenty of stories.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, kids like that, they don’t really belong anywhere. Their parents love them, but other demons don’t want to accept them because they’re half human, and humans don’t usually trust them because they’re still part demon. The best you can really hope for in that situation is that your kid looks as human as possible, cause humans can be surprisingly bad at sensing demons. Anyway, if that’s all you had to ask me, I should be getting back to work. Try not to yell at your dog boy too much or it’ll make a bigger problem for me.”

Kagome turned this information over in her mind a few times as she walked back to where she and Inuyasha had been investigating. A half-demon. She’d heard of them, sure, but it wasn’t exactly the kind of thing most people went around announcing to the world. She wondered if he’d been bullied a lot, like the owner’s son Jinenji. She wondered if Kikyo had known. _Kikyo_. Kagome almost doubled over from the guilt trip that thought unleashed. He said Kikyo had asked him to make a choice, and that she hadn’t liked his answer. What if it was related to being a half-demon? Kagome had learned that some demons could have their powers sealed. Sometimes, young demons were born with powers too strong for them to control so they would have their powers sealed until they were a little older and could start training. Lots of slayer companies like the one Sango’s family ran offered a branch of services like that. Sometimes demons got old and started going a little senile so their children or caretakers would seal away some of their powers, similar to taking car keys away from a grandparent with Alzheimer’s, it isn’t an easy choice, but there are times when not doing it could be more dangerous for everyone. 

Maybe that’s what Kikyo had asked him to do; maybe she wanted him to seal away his demonic power so that he’d essentially be a full human. Kagome couldn’t imagine what that would feel like, but she could imagine that it would hurt to have someone you love ask you to change something so integral to yourself.

She needed to apologize, she decided. It wasn’t her fault that her resemblance to her cousin was bringing up bad memories for Inuyasha but she shouldn’t have said what she did to him earlier. Kagome groaned as she walked back, Inuyasha didn’t seem like the kind to take apologies gracefully. Would he gloat that she was apologizing and try and drag it out and make her repeat herself? Or would he totally reject it and not even hear her out? She wasn’t sure which was worse.

She found him on a set of wood scaffolding, inspecting some molding that was partially installed near the ceiling of one of the rooms.

“Hey, Inuyasha,” she called quietly. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“What,” came his chilly reply.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry for what I said earlier. That wasn’t fair to you and it wasn’t right for me to say something so mean just because I was angry. I’m sure you have good qualities, even if Kikyo hasn’t told me about them and I haven’t seen them, it doesn’t mean they’re not there.”

“That’s your apology? You don’t think I have any good qualities but it wasn’t fair to say so out loud?”

 _Crap_. “Okay, that came out wrong, too. What I was trying to say is, I don’t know you very well yet. And it isn’t fair to make a judgment about you without really getting to know you first.”

 _It’s not like you’re wrong, though_ , he thought as Kagome inched farther into the room.

“Anyway, I also think I know what Kikyo asked of you before you broke up and I just wanted to say that I think it was unfair of her to ask that.”

That took Inuyasha by surprise. “Really,” he asked, turning to face her. “You wouldn’t ask that?”

“Of course not! Asking something so personal like that, and making it an ultimatum to boot, that’s just rude!”

Inuyasha sat down on the edge of the scaffolding so that he was a little closer to Kagome’s height. She took that as an invitation and came to stand a little closer, almost close enough for him to touch if he stuck out his foot, not that she’d want his dusty footprints on her clothes, but still. “I’m surprised someone in Kikyo’s family thinks so differently,” he said.

Kagome bristled a little bit at this. “She’s family and I love her but that doesn’t mean we see eye to eye on everything. We didn’t really grow up together so we’ve got some different opinions on stuff. And like I said before, I like to form my own opinions about things first, not just listen to whatever she says.”

“Yeah, you did a real good job of that earlier, what was it you called me,” he teased, bracing his hands on one of the bars above his head and leaning through his arms, “Brutish, ignorant, and selfish?”

Kagome crossed her arms over her chest. “I said I was sorry, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, but it don’t mean much if you still think all those things are true. You also said I don’t have any good qualities.”

“That’s not true!”

“Oh yeah? Why don’t you name some, then?”

Kagome felt like her brain was starting to shut down, something about the way he was looking at her was making it kind of hard to focus. “Well, you’re strong,” she volunteered. “You were holding your own with Sango last night so that’s gotta be true.”

“Uh-huh,” he said, jumping down so they were almost eye-to-eye, “What else ya got?”

“You – you’re protective. It sounds like you were always keeping an eye out for Kikyo on your jobs, based on what you did last night at least.” Inuyasha was right in front of her now, staring down at her and she realized this was the first chance she had to really take a good look at him. He had a strong jaw, sharp, golden eyes, and long, silver hair that looked incredibly soft. Kagome caught herself wondering if it’d feel more like hair or fur if she touched it. And she wanted to touch it. Especially his ears. Those pointed, ever so slightly tufted Shiba Inu-style ears. _Focus, Kagome, you’re supposed to be apologizing not objectifying. What’s one more good thing about him?_ “You’re-” _gorgeous. No! Kagome he’s your cousin’s ex! You can’t say that. Say something else. Anything else! He’s staring at you, say words! Any words!_ “-a half-demon.”

Instantly a careful mask slid over Inuyasha’s features, his eyes narrowed, and Kagome felt a sudden change in the air between them. “What did you say,” he almost growled.

“I’m sorry,” Kagome said, “it just slipped out. I ran into the owner and she said that her son was one, too, a half-demon that is. And, that, uh, well the thing we found in the other room was just where her son was sleeping while doing the renovations, and that he wasn’t as pretty of a half-demon as you are, and I know I’m probably not supposed to know, and I promise I won’t tell anyone! It just slipped out now, because I was thinking about what I know about you so far and I just learned that about you so it was on my mind and – and. I’m sorry. I’ll never mention it again, I promise!”

“That’s not the kind of thing I like people knowing. Especially not whiny brats who I just met who are stopping me from doing my job.”

“Oh, so I’m stopping you from doing your job now,” Kagome said, instantly flipping from being upset at crossing a boundary to being furious that she was being blamed for something that wasn’t her fault. “If I recall _you_ were the one that wanted me to start naming all your good qualities.”

“Yeah, only cause you said I didn’t have any!”

“I already apologized for that, _stupid!_ ”

“And I asked you to name something good about me, not to announce my secrets to the world!”

“Who’s announcing it,” she yelled, “You’re the one who started yelling first!”

He growled and scrubbed his face with one hand. “I never should’ve let Miroku talk me into this.”

“Oh, I’m that terrible of a person to work with?”

“I meant this job but ya know what, you’re right, I shouldn’t have let him talk me into working with a brat like you. You’re worse than Kikyo and I really don’t need that right now. So why don’t you do us both a favor, and get lost!” He brushed past her and headed out into the hallway, marching back towards his and Miroku’s room, desperate to be away from people. With any luck, Miroku would still be out and he could have the place to himself for a little while, although the way his day was going, Miroku would probably be back in the room with some female guest, or worse, the other slayer girl from Kagome’s company.

“Fine, you stupid jerk, I don’t want to work with you _anyway_ ,” she screamed after him. “The only thing you’re good for, is getting me in trouble!” Rather than follow him down the hallway towards their rooms, Kagome decided to take a detour and see if the lounge was open yet. She wasn’t much of a drinker but she could certainly use a little something to take the edge off, maybe she’d luck out and run into Sango on the way.


	5. I'll Drink to That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang readies for another night against this mysterious demon but somehow nothing seems to be going their way . . .

Kagome was dismayed to learn that the lounge area didn’t serve alcoholic drinks until the evening so she told the barista to make her “The strongest drink you’re allowed to make right now” and turned around to watch the doorway while she waited, hoping that maybe Sango, or else someone interesting, would walk through the door and distract her. She wasn’t waiting long before her friend marched past the doorway.

“Sango! In here,” Kagome yelled. She could tell even from the brief glance she caught that Sango was in as bad of a mood as she was and figured there was a 50/50 chance that Sango was too busy muttering curses to herself to have heard Kagome. Thankfully, Kagome’s voice seemed to have cut through her tirade and Sango reappeared in the doorway, looking relieved when she saw her friend at the bar.

The two women found a table against a wall and sat down together, immediately talking over one another in a rush to spill the most irritating details of their day. Any onlooker would’ve struggled to piece together even one of the stories from the deluge of overlapping information. Kagome and Sango, however, had honed their ability to do exactly that over years of friendship and both women finished their rant with an understanding of why their friend was upset.

“Wow, you were definitely right about Miroku, what a pervert to grab you butt like that when you were worried about him!”

“Yeah, well, it sounds like Inuyasha wasn’t such a treat, either, he’s seriously so hung up on Kikyo still that he gets mad whenever she’s brought up? I get the heartache of a first love, but hasn’t it been a year or two now?”

Kagome fiddled with the straw of her drink. “There may be another reason that he was getting so mad at me,” she admitted. “I may have figured out what happened when he and Kikyo broke up.”

“What,” Sango said, slapping the table with her hands, “You figured it out and you didn’t _lead with that_?”

“Well it turns out it’s a pretty big deal and part of it isn’t my secret to tell!”

“Well what can you tell me,” Sango asked, lowering her voice and leaning in conspiratorially.

“Well,” Kagome started, “They broke up right around when Kikyo was planning to quit, right? Well Inuyasha said that Kikyo gave him an ultimatum and that she didn’t like what he chose. I think Kikyo wanted him to quit with her but I think the big thing she was asking was for him to change something pretty significant about himself, if you can catch my drift.” Sango’s brow furrowed as she considered this. “Something that would be an incredibly big change,” Kagome hinted. Sango shook her head. “A service people in our company sometimes perform.”

Sango’s eyes went wide. “No,” she whispered, “Really? She wanted him to seal away his demonic power? Wow, that’s a pretty big ask of a demon.” Kagome made a noise of agreement. “Even without his powers he’d still look like a demon, but I guess being powerless would help people trust him more.”

“Can you blame him for saying no, though?”

“Definitely not, I know Kikyo is your cousin but that’s a pretty big ask.” 

_Asking him to change himself just to stay with you_ , Kagome thought, _Kikyo how could you? No wonder he hates me. He looks at me and all he sees is you_.

***

When Miroku had stuck his head into the lounge, Kagome and Sango had been in the middle of dumping the day’s events out onto the table for the other to sort through and had wisely decided it was better that he not interrupt. Instead he had returned to his room, already expecting to find Inuyasha sulking and maybe pecking away at the laptop they often brought with to write up reports on the go. When he entered, Inuyasha was busy pacing, a sign that he had a lot running through his mind.

“So I take it my little plan to help us bond with our lovely female counterparts didn’t work out well for you, either, today,” he said by way of greeting. Inuyasha huffed an acknowledgement. "So are you going to tell me why this girl is getting under your skin so badly or do you want me to just make up my own reasons why?”

Inuyasha glared at his companion, which Miroku knew was the first step in Inuyasha deciding to talk. The routine usually went that Inuyasha would glare daggers, then throw out and insult or two – though the weaker the insult the bigger the subject on his mind – and then he’d finally start talking, though he rarely mentioned the feelings at the heart of the matter, Miroku had learned to read his friend well enough to connect the missing dots.

“Leave it alone, you idiot.”

“Oh my, I’m only an idiot today? Well, matters must be grave indeed. So tell me, is this girl just coincidentally similar looking to Kikyo or is there something more there?” Inuyasha stopped pacing and Miroku knew he had hit his mark.

“She’s her cousin.”

“Oh my,” Miroku said, “That is complicated. So I take it she’s heard all about you and most of it wasn’t good?” The pacing resumed. “Well you don’t exactly give off the best first impressions. So what was it that made her run off all angry?”

“She knows that I’m just a half-demon.”

“What? You told her already? It took me _months_ to find out and even then you only told me because I showed up at your apartment on the night of the new moon and wouldn’t take no for an answer because I thought we had made plans for the night!”

“I didn’t tell her,” he yelled.

“Then how’d she find out? Was it – Did Kikyo know? Could she have told her?”

“The old bat who runs this place told her. Something about her son also being a half-demon so she can spot us a mile away. Kikyo didn’t know, or at least, I never told her.”

“I see. All the more reason that you’d be skittish around her. First she looks like your ex, now she knows your secret; pretty soon she’ll be able to bring you down with just a word.”

“Fuck off,” Inuyasha yelled, launching a pillow across the room.

“So you got mad and yelled at her and she . . .?”

“Yelled back, actually. Said something about how I was only good for getting her into trouble.” _She’s right about that_ , he thought.

Miroku was quiet for a bit, considering this information. “So what will you do tonight,” he asked finally.

“I’m not apologizing if that’s what you’re hinting at,” he snapped.

Miroku leveled him with an exasperated look. “I knew that much already. Believe it or not, I can read you pretty well and I know when you’re done talking about something. I was talking about the demon. Nothing any of us did to it yesterday seemed to have any real impact and I don’t think either of us turned up any significant clues, unless you’ve been withholding something?” Inuyasha shook his head. “I may have found something but I’m not sure how it could be related.”

Thankful for the distraction, Inuyasha finally stopped pacing and sat down on the edge of his bed. “What did you find?”

“Well, while Sango and I were investigating, we found a box stashed away in the ceiling of one of the storage rooms.”

“What was in it?”

“Mostly just some photos, little trinkets, nothing that seemed out of place or particularly valuable. I showed it to the owner and she said it was a memory box that had gone missing around the time that the renovations started. She didn’t see anything new added or anything missing from it but something about the box seemed off.”

“Yeah, like what? You sense a demonic aura coming from something inside of it?”

“Not exactly, but the whole thing seemed heavier than it ought to have been, like there was a something else hidden inside of it.”

“Well, it’s not gonna matter, soon. We’re gonna take this thing out tonight and go home and I will never see her again.”

“Is that what you want to happen?”

Inuyasha scowled and turned away to grab his sword and start patrol. What did it matter if he wanted to see her again or not? It wasn’t his decision to make. She’d come to hate him if he asked her to stay with a half-breed like him. He was good at one thing and one thing only, and relationships weren’t it.

“You have a choice, you know,” Miroku called after him as he slammed the door with a little more force than necessary.

***

The patrol that evening was off to a rocky start. The two groups had staked out positions on opposite ends of the bath, like middle school children at their first dance, desperate to avoid each other but constantly glancing over anyway and then whispering behind their hands. The demon was taking its sweet time making an appearance, causing the slayers to grow more antsy and frustrated with every passing minute. When the minutes stretched out past an hour and there was still no sign of the demon, Miroku broke the invisible barrier between the camps and crossed into enemy territory.

“Well ladies, sadly it doesn’t look like we’re getting lucky tonight.”

Kagome rolled her eyes and said, “Pretty bold of you to come within slapping distance and say something so stupid. I wouldn’t have pegged you for a sadist but after what Sango did this afternoon I’m starting to think you’re provoking her on purpose.”

He put his hands up in an “I surrender” style gesture. “I just thought I could lighten the mood a little. I’m guessing that we may not see this demon at all tonight.”

Sango sighed. “I’m starting to think you’re right. Which means we’re truly no closer to solving this case.”

“That’s the other reason I wanted to come over,” he said, “You left before we could open the box we found in the ceiling this morning.”

Sango blushed but replied, “Gee can you blame me, though? After the way you acted I doubt anyone would’ve wanted to stick around. So, did it have anything interesting inside of it?”

“That’s just it; it was just a memory box that the owner said had gone missing when the renovations started. It mostly contained photographs, some letters, little trinkets she’d collected over the years. But I can’t get rid of the nagging feeling that there’s something more to that box.”

Sango considered this. “It would be easy to add a secret compartment to a box like that. My family has dozens of those boxes, my grandparents used to hide extra gifts or sweets in some of the boxes and they made it a game that we had to figure out how to open them.”

“Do you think someone hid the demon’s heart inside of it something,” Kagome asked.

“It could be,” Miroku agreed. “It certainly seems like there’s something more to this demon. It wasn’t affected by any of our attacks which means that either it’s hidden its weak point somewhere else, or it’s an illusion being projected by a demonic item.”

“Perhaps it’s trying to lay low tonight to avoid detection from the owner. It’s one thing when it’s hidden away in a ceiling, no one will notice if it’s drawing attention to itself, but especially if that box is important to the owner, she’d surely notice the demonic energy if it tried to cast a projection,” Kagome mused. “The owner’s son is a half-demon so I’m sure she’s able to sense demonic energy, especially if it’s that close.”

“Indeed,” Miroku agreed. “Thankfully, it seems as though we won’t have to worry about it tonight, although that could mean that it will be coming out with double force tomorrow.” Miroku glanced in the direction of Inuyasha, who was currently swearing and sniffing around the area where they had seen the demon the night before. “Speaking of trouble, can I talk to you for a minute, Kagome? About Inuyasha?”

Kagome sighed. “I’m guessing he told you what happened today and you want to chew me out or defend your friend.”

“Defend might be a strong word for it,” Miroku hedged. “I suppose I wanted to commend you for yelling back at him instead of feeling intimidated by him. He’s not the most social person, I’m sure you’ve noticed,” Kagome snorted, “but he’s a good person at heart. He’s lived through a lot and doesn’t trust very easily. He told me your connection to Kikyo so I think that’s why he’s been a little extra prickly.”

“Yeah, I think I hit a couple of sore spots today.”

Miroku nodded his agreement. “I’m not going to apologize for him, and I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I hope you’ll give him another chance. It took me months to learn some of the things that you learned about him in less than two days, and I’m his best friend. In any case,” Miroku said, stretching and preparing to return to his friend, “I hope you’ll consider it. He really is a good person.”

The rest of the evening seemed to drag on endlessly. By midnight they decided that the demon was unlikely to show for the evening and agreed to take shifts patrolling again. Surprising everyone, Inuyasha had already retreated back to his room by the time the decision was made so Kagome offered to take the first shift, opting to smile radiantly back at her friend when Sango glared daggers at her for once again leaving her alone with Miroku. Thankfully the walk back to the girls’ room was short and relatively quiet.

“Well,” Miroku said as they approached Sango’s room, “It’s a shame that the demon eluded us again tonight, but I’ve got to say, it gives us quite the silver lining.”

“Oh yeah,” Sango replied dryly, “And what would that be?”

Here, Miroku stopped, and took one of Sango’s hands in both of his. “It means that I get to spend another day with you, dear Sango. You’ve really impressed me so far, I’m looking forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Have a good night.” He gave her hand a little squeeze and then set off down the hallway to his own room, disappearing around a corner in a matter of moments.

It took Sango a few extra seconds to process what had just happened and then to remember that she had to use her key to open the room. Sango was glad that the room was empty and that no one was around to see how badly she was blushing over such a simple thing. _It’s nothing worth getting excited over. He probably does that with every girl he says goodnight to,_ Sango scolded herself as she removed her armor and climbed into her bed. _But his hands were soft_ , she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile by the time Miroku reached his room he was humming a happy tune. He threw open the door to the room and was so immersed in the memory of Sango’s surprised – yet pleased – face, that he didn’t immediately notice Inuyasha’s mood. “Tonight was a good night after all, my friend,” he’d announced as he walked through the door.

“Speak for your-fucking-self,” Inuyasha had growled back. He was busy pawing through their luggage, sifting through the last of the supplies they had brought with them. Miroku took in the formerly tidy room that was now strewn with a combination of weapons, sutras, and a variety of other supplies.

“Inuyasha what’s gotten into you? We’ll kill the demon tomorrow and we’ll be on our way in no time, did you really need to ransack our supplies?”

“Yes because we don’t have _time_ to wait and kill it tomorrow, there’s got to be something here that can draw this thing out tonight and take care of it.”

“Listen, I get it, this whole thing with Kagome has brought up a lot of bad memories and you’re uncomfortable that she’s already figured out your secret so you’re feeling insecure and you want to get away. But listen, this might actually be good for you for once.”

Inuyasha growled. “It’s not that,” a lie but he wasn’t about to admit that to Miroku. “Do you know what tomorrow is?”

Miroku looked at him blankly, “Thursday?”

“It’s the night of the new moon, jackass.”

“Oh no, oh this _is_ bad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter is going up in the afternoon instead of the morning (especially since it's kind of a filler chapter) but I promise the next chapter leads us into some good action!


	6. This time for sure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang prepares for what they hope will be their final battle with the demon (hopefully sooner rather than later). Featuring the classic Inuyasha trope: Gut-punch of love

The next morning, Inuyasha was gone from the room before Miroku woke up. Miroku figured that his friend would be stalking around the onsen today, investigating everything and doing anything that might draw out the demon in hopes that he could defeat it by nightfall. _I should’ve known to check the calendar before we left_ , he thought to himself. It was company policy that slayers never went on jobs alone, accountability and reporting and all that, but he could’ve taken another partner, or even just assigned the job to another team if he had known it would run into the night of the new moon. No wonder Inuyasha had been so crabby.

 _With any luck, we’ll be able to root out this demon today and he can just sulk in the room overnight_ , Miroku thought as he dressed and headed out towards the lounge. He had found the ladies there eating breakfast the day before and hoped that luck would be in his favor and he would find them there again today. He would need their help since Inuyasha would be all but useless for anything not requiring brute force.

“Good morning ladies,” Miroku said, sliding smoothly up to Kagome and Sango’s table. He took in the slight blush that rose to Sango’s cheeks and considered the day off to an excellent start. He pulled up a chair and settled himself between the two women. “So, today is going to be a slight change of plans compared to yesterday. Inuyasha is,” _shit, I didn’t actually think of an excuse_ , “Preoccupied today, and is off doing his own investigation. There’s really no getting in his way when he’s like this, so I propose that the three of us travel together today instead.”

Kagome and Sango exchanged looks. Miroku could tell that an entire conversation was being held just with minor facial expressions, a few flicks of their eyes, and an occasional eyebrow raise, but he could not figure out exactly what was being said. Finally, Kagome turned to him and said, “Alright, there’s no sense in trying to all investigate individually and if Inuyasha is already in a bad mood then I can’t imagine either one of us showing up would do anything but fan the flames.”

“Excellent,” Miroku said. “I was hoping you’d agree so that we could have Sango take a look at the box that we found yesterday, I still think that’s our best bet at finding our next lead.”

“I can’t promise that the secret compartment will be one that I’m familiar with, but I’ll try my best to figure it out,” Sango said.

“Have some faith in yourself, Sango, I’m confident you’ll be able to figure it out,” Miroku said, causing Sango to be suddenly very interested in her coffee cup and Kagome to hide her smug smile behind a cup of orange juice.

When they finished breakfast they headed to the lobby to talk with the owner and ask if they could investigate the box again.

“You see yesterday, when I delivered it, I noticed that it was heavier than it should have been given the objects that were inside so we think there may be a secret compartment that someone has hidden something inside. Perhaps when the box went missing, someone took advantage of it in order to hide the spirit of the demon so that it would be difficult to exterminate,” Miroku explained.

The old woman seemed hesitant but ushered the trio into her office and presented the box for Sango to inspect. Sango opened the lid and carefully placed the contents onto the desk before lifting and examining the box from multiple angles. “It’s definitely too heavy for the kind of wood it’s made from,” she muttered, almost to herself, “There’s definitely a secret compartment with something inside.”

Sango set to work prodding and pulling and trying to uncover the secret of the box while Kagome, noticing the owner’s distress, turned her attention to the items now laid out on the desk. She picked up a photo of the owner as a young woman smiling radiantly next to a man with long white hair. “Is this you when you were younger,” she asked, “with Jinenji’s father?”

The woman appeared grateful for both the distraction and the opportunity to relive some of her memories. “It is indeed,” she said, sifting through the photos from the box and holding up a few more for Kagome to see. “We met one day when I was out on an errand and sprained my ankle, I wasn’t sure I would be able to reach the edge of town before it got dark on my own and I was trying to make myself a cane or a crutch so I could hobble back home. He appeared as a swarm of fireflies, first, and I admit I was afraid, until I saw his face. He was so handsome.”

“You weren’t afraid even though he was a demon?”

“Of course not, there are demons everywhere but if you can learn to read their demonic energy, there’s a certain feeling that the ones who wish you harm always give off. I could sense nothing of the sort from him. He carried me back to the town, set me down somewhere that I could find help but he could disappear easily and I thought that would be the last I saw of him.”

“But he came back?”

“Yes, every few nights for weeks he’d appear in my backyard or the local park, or whenever I found myself alone on some errand, I’d see him standing just down the road. We fell in love quickly.”

“Did you get married, then?”

At this the old woman sighed, “No, at that time it was still looked down upon in my town to marry a demon if you were human. We pledged our love to each other in another way but he was driven from the town not long after that. He was never allowed to return even after my Jinenji was born,” the old woman sifted through the cards and produced one of her holding a baby in a blanket, his face obscured except for what appeared to Kagome to be a long snout. “But he sent letters and gifts, all the same. Jinenji always grew up knowing his father would’ve loved him. Then one day the letters stopped and I woke up one day feeling as though someone had beaten me severely while I slept. It was that day I knew that he had died.”

Kagome felt a pang of sympathetic grief, “I’m so sorry.”

The old woman smiled gently. “Things weren’t always easy for me and Jinenji, but we always made do. Not long after I realized he had died, a messenger arrived at our house with a deed to this plot of land and more money than I had ever seen in my life. Before he died, he had been planning to surprise me with this onsen that we could run together as a family. He never lived to see it built but I promised him we’d keep it going. He had picked out the name Onsen Jinenji so it didn’t seem right to change it. This is us on our first opening day,” the old woman said, holding up another photo. In this one, she was older, closer to her current age. She stood tall, showing only the slightly hint of a stoop that was now beginning to creep more noticeably into her posture. Beside her stood a tall and hulking creature that Kagome assumed must have been her half-demon son, Jinenji. He was at least 7 feet tall and incredibly muscular. His arms and legs were humanoid but his face was long and thin, ending in more of a snout than a typical human face. Although the photo was taken from a distance, Kagome could see pale scars tracing over Jinenji’s arms and legs.

“Is this your son,” she asked.

“That’s my Jinenji,” the woman replied proudly. “He’s always been insecure about his height, he thinks it scares people too much, so he doesn’t usually like having his picture taken, but I told him this was a special occasion.”

Kagome found herself reaching out to touch the scars on Jinenji’s photo, as if she could somehow feel them through the picture, “He looks . . . kind,” she whispered.

“He’d be so pleased to hear you say that,” the old woman said. For a moment the two were lost in their own thoughts before a sharp pop and a triumphant, “Gotcha!” from Sango interrupted them.

One of the side panels of the box had been removed and a secret drawer had been revealed. Sango had pulled on the small gold ring that opened the drawer and revealed a tray lined in blue velvet fabric that was filled with gold and silver coins.

“Well, that would certainly explain the weight,” Miroku chuckled.

“This is the last of the gifts that Jinenji’s father left to us to help start the onsen. We used some of it to start the renovations but most of that is just for emergencies.”

“I understand why you would be nervous that we were suddenly trying to look for secret compartments,” Sango said. “But rest assured, since this doesn’t seem to be related to the demon, we don’t need to report this, and we certainly won’t go telling anyone about this.”

“Unfortunately for us, we’re not closer to finding any clues,” Miroku remarked.

“Maybe something fell out of the box when we – ahem – when it fell yesterday,” Sango said. “Is there anyone else who has access to that storage closet that might’ve seen something?”

“Well, Jinenji, of course, but other than that, no. Most of our staff just handle the phones and appointments or strip the rooms after guests leave. Jinenji and I do the laundry ourselves.”

“Well, it’s worth checking,” Kagome said. “If something fell out it may still be there, and that’s as good of a lead as I think we’re going to get today.”

They searched the laundry room high and low, even inspecting the ceiling a second time in case there was something else hidden away. Although, miraculously, this time Miroku was able to procure a step ladder and investigated the ceiling himself. Sadly, the only things they found were dust bunnies and mouse traps.

“So, we’ve hit another dead end,” Miroku sighed, sitting down on the top step of the ladder. “We’ve searched the bath area a few times over already, and I have a feeling Inuyasha is going over it again now with a fine toothed comb. If there was something there, we’d find it. The jewelry box didn’t have anything significant in it and we couldn’t find anything here, so I’m afraid we might be out of luck.”

“Wait,” Kagome said, “The owner said Jinenji had access to this room, maybe he knows or saw something. When Inuyasha and I were investigating yesterday I found a room where his mom said he had been staying while he helped out with the renovations.”

“It’s better than nothing,” Sango said. “Let’s go see Jinenji.”

When the trio arrived in the under construction wing of the hotel, Sango and Miroku started to poke around while Kagome tried to remember which room it was that she had seen Jinenji’s makeshift bed in. After checking three rooms and finding them all decidedly Jinenji-less, Kagome resorted to Plan B: Yelling.

“ _Hey, Jinenji? Jinenji, are you here?_ ” A gasp that almost sounded more like a squeak and a suddenly slamming door told Kagome she was on the right track. Miroku and Sango reappeared in the hallway and exchanged looks. “Jinenji,” she said in a softer voice, moving to stand in front of the door that had suddenly slammed closed. “Hi, my name is Kagome, my friends and I are looking for something that might’ve gotten lost in the storage room and your mom says you’re the only other one who had access to the room.”

“I can’t help you,” the door declared.

“Jinenji,” Kagome said, putting her hand on the door, “I promise I won’t get scared of you. I know you’re a,” here she lowered her voice ever so slightly more, “a half-demon, a friend of mine is, too.”

Here the door opened a crack and Kagome could see a single eye appear and take her in. “These are my friends, Miroku and Sango,” Kagome said, beckoning them closer. “We’re all here to try and get rid of the demon that’s been attacking your onsen.”

“We found your mom’s memory box yesterday,” Sango piped up, “But we think something may have fallen out when we found the box yesterday. Have you seen anything unusual in the storage room recently?”

“. . . a necklace,” came Jinenji’s voice, almost a whisper.

“Really? Can we see it,” Kagome asked.

She could see Jinenji’s head shake through the door. “I found it this morning and brought it back here to take a closer look, but it didn’t look like anything my father ever gave us, so I brought it back to my mother. I thought it must have come from one of the guests.”

 _We must have just missed each other all morning_ , Kagome thought. _This is starting to feel like a wild goose chase._ “I guess it’s back up to lobby we go. Thank you for your help, Jinenji.” Through the crack in the doorway Jinenji’s head dipped in a bow and then disappeared and the group began their trek back across the onsen to ask the owner about this mysterious necklace.

“Huh,” she’d immediately replied, “You think the necklace could be related to that demon?”

“We’d just like to take a closer look at it,” Miroku explained. “It may be nothing but we have reason to believe it could be related.”

“Well, you’re too late. I made an announcement that we had found some missing jewelry and a young woman showed up to claim it.”

“What did she look like?”

The owner gave the description of a young woman and said that she had seen her walk off in the direction of the baths after she had reclaimed her necklace. “And while you’re there, do something about your friend. I’ve been getting complaints all day about him. He keeps trying to sniff people as they’re entering the changing rooms, he’s been splashing around the springs, and he’s just generally disturbing the guests by staring them down while they’re trying to soak in the water. I know you all are probably eager to get this job finished but his attitude is going to drive away more customers than that damn demon.”

“Seriously, Miroku, what’s going on with Inuyasha today,” Sango asked. “He doesn’t exactly strike me as the easy-going kind but this is taking it to a whole new level.”

“Well,” Miroku hedged, “He, uh, has his moments. Would you believe he’s afraid of the dark?”

“No,” Sango said flatly.

“Would you believe he gets anxiety if he’s away from home for more than two days?”

“Still no.”

“Kagome,” Miroku pleaded. “Help me out here!”

“Wait, Kagome, you know why he’s acting so strangely?”

“I don’t! I mean, I know he has a secret, but I assumed he was just avoiding me today.”

Miroku sighed. “Well, if we don’t get rid of this demon soon, it won’t be a secret much longer, I suppose, it’s already late afternoon.”

“Seriously,” Sango whispered, “Do you have any idea what he’s talking about?”

Kagome shook her head, “Not really? I guess we’re going to find out.”

Sure enough, when they entered the baths, they found Inuyasha stalking around the grounds, glaring at the sparse handful of guests who were still trying to enjoy the water, and practically lunging at anyone who moved unexpectedly.

“He’s lost his mind, hasn’t he,” Kagome said.

“Unfortunately, yes, it does seem that way. Hey, Inuyasha,” Miroku yelled. “We think we’re onto something, come here for a minute would you?”

Inuyasha gave a final glare to the man he had been stalking, and then closed the distance to Miroku in a single jump. “What do you have for me, Miroku?”

“We believe the demon may be hiding its weak point in a necklace. We’ve chased it all over the onsen today but we believe that someone might be bringing it here if it hasn’t shown up already.”

“What’s it look like?”

“It’s a woman who had her hair in a braid and the necklace is a large blue stone on a silver chain.”

“Blue stone, silver chain,” Inuyasha muttered. “I know I’ve seen that here recently.” Inuyasha took off again to hunt down the necklace while Kagome strung her bow and Sango unpacked and assembled her hiraikotsu from the pack she had been carrying with them. Miroku readied his staff and charged after Inuyasha, wanting to be available as a buffer in case their theory about the necklace turned out to be false. Sure enough, however, Inuyasha had been right, and he had cornered a young woman with a necklace at the edge of the dressing room. “Gotcha,” he yelled, “Give us the necklace!”

“Inuyasha, careful,” Miroku yelled, “Look at her eyes, she’s being possessed!”

“What?” 

The women’s eyes were clouded and blank but her face split into a sharp grin. “Aww, so close little half-demon. If you had been a little earlier you might’ve stood a chance. But the sun has almost set.” Behind them, the water began to bubble, causing the guests to scatter, and the oyster demon appeared again. Inuyasha yanked the necklace off the woman’s neck with one swift motion, and threw it towards Miroku, who could try to seal and purify it. Before Miroku could catch it, a watery tentacle intercepted it and withdrew the necklace into the protective shell of the illusion.

“Dammit,” Inuyasha said, drawing his sword and leaping at the demon illusion.

“Inuyasha, wait,” Miroku yelled after him.

“I can’t wait, Miroku, I’m almost out of time as it is!” Inuyasha’s sword bounced harmlessly off the shell of the demon and he was thrown backwards suddenly by a tentacle he couldn’t avoid.

“Get ready, Kagome,” Sango commanded, launching her hiraikotsu at the slim opening of the demon’s shell. Kagome nocked an arrow, ready to fire into the mouth of the demon if Sango’s attack landed and it opened its jaws. Unfortunately the oyster tightened its jaws in preparation for Sango’s attack and Kagome’s arrow bounced harmlessly off the shell before the oyster prepared its counter-attack. “Watch out,” Sango yelled, catching hiraikotsu and using it as a makeshift shield for herself and Kagome as the oyster shot out spikes.

Inuyasha dodged the oyster’s attacks and made one more leap at the oyster. As he jumped, however, the sun dipped below the horizon and the group felt a pulse of energy pass through the area. “ _Shit_ ,” Inuyasha yelled, as his sword, once broad and mighty, shuddered and shrank into something thin and weak looking. It clattered even more harmlessly off the shell of the oyster and Inuyasha was knocked into the water of the bath by a tentacle. When he emerged again, his long silver hair had turned black.

“Inuyasha, what happened,” Kagome yelled, disintegrating a tentacle that threatened to pull him under the water with one of her sacred arrows.

“Shit,” was all Inuyasha had to say.

“Sango, cover for us,” Miroku yelled, intercepting Inuyasha as he exited the bath and pulling him forcefully towards the dressing rooms. “Inuyasha, I know you’re not going to like this but you need to get out of here now. You’re not used to fighting as a human and this demon is too strong for you to try and take on in this state.”

“Shut up, you bastard,” Inuyasha growled, breaking free of Miroku’s grip. “I’ve been fighting demons for years, even without my demonic powers I’m still a better fighter than most.”

“I’ll barricade you in here if I have to,” Miroku threatened. “The demon knew you would be losing your powers tonight which means it’ll be targeting you and that’s not going to do us any good. We need it to open us and face us for our attacks to do any good, but it won’t do that if it’s preoccupied with killing you.”

Inuyasha tried to push past Miroku, “All the more reason that I should be out there, if it wants me then I’m happy to be bait.”

“I didn’t want to have to do this,” Miroku muttered.

“Do wha-” Inuyasha gasped out the last part of his question as Miroku sank his fist into Inuyasha’s stomach. He doubled over, gasping and cursing his weakened form, unable to stand before Miroku slammed the door and sealed it with a sutra. “Dammit, Miroku.” He listened for a few moments to the sound of the battle raging outside and contemplated his options. He knew he wouldn’t be able to handle this demon in his current state, but he hated being sidelined while there was a fight to be had. Then a scream split the air. “Kagome!” His eyes darted around the dressing room and settled on a small window. _My way out,_ he thought, _hang in there, Kagome, I’m coming!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really excited for the next chapter, please look forward to it! Again, sorry that fight scenes aren't my specialty even though I picked this story line, we'll get to the good stuff soon.


	7. Do it.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have to do it. Now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was my favorite chapter to write. It'll be okay . . . probably

“Miroku what’s happening,” Sango yelled as he reemerged alone from the dressing rooms.

“Inuyasha is a half-demon,” he replied. “There’s one night a month when he loses his powers completely and becomes totally human.” He launched some sutras at the oyster which seemed to irritate it but not enough to do any real damage. “Apparently that night is tonight so I’ve locked him in there to keep him from jumping into the battle and getting hurt.”

The three continued launching attacks but nothing they did seemed to have any significant effect on the demon. “We need to get its mouth open so that we can break the jewel and purify the shards,” Sango yelled. “Unless we can do that it’s useless to keep attacking like this.”

“I think I have an idea of how to get it to do that,” Miroku yelled. “It opens its mouth wider whenever it launches a shard attack. Next time it does-” watery tendrils suddenly appeared again and interrupted Miroku’s plan. Sango deflected hers with a quick sweep of hiraikotsu but Miroku’s caught his legs and pulled him to the ground while Kagome’s caught her waist and lifted her high into the air, causing her to scream in surprise.

“Kagome,” Sango exclaimed

Kagome quickly recovered from her initial shock and quickly readied an arrow, shooting the tendril and breaking its hold on her. She dropped to her feet and shot another arrow towards the mouth of the oyster, seeming to connect with something inside. “I’m okay,” she yelled, “I think I may have fractured part of the jewel inside, it looked like there was a flash of-”

“ _Kagome!_ ” 

“Inuyasha? You’re not supposed to be here,” she yelled, at the all-too-human form sprinting towards her. “I told you I can handle myself, you shouldn’t be here!”

“Look out, incoming!” Sango tried to warn them of an incoming barrage of spikes, but she was too late. Inuyasha was out in the open, too far from the others for anyone to try and push him out of the way. The next few moments seemed to happen in slow motion. Sango bracing as the barrage hit her makeshift barrier, Kagome trying in vain to sprint towards Inuyasha, as if her body could protect him from the blast, Miroku yelling and trying to reach his friend, trying to produce a barrier with his staff that might protect them, and Inuyasha twisting to see the onslaught of shell fragments headed straight for him.

“ _Arrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhh_ ,” Inuyasha screamed as the attack hit him full force and sent him flying into the wall of the dressing room, rubble raining down on top of him, trapping him within the ruins.

 _“Inuyasha_ ,” Kagome screamed.

“ _Sango, now!_ ”

“ _Hiraikotsu!_ ” Sango launched her boomerang and landed a solid hit, cracking the back of the shell where the two halves connected, causing the top half to hinge fully open. Within they could see the jewel, cracked and partially shattered.

“If we can get to that gem, I’ll be able to purify it,” Miroku yelled.

“Kagome, go,” Sango commanded, “We’ll take care of the rest, get to Inuyasha!”

“Right, I’ll leave the rest to you two.” Kagome shouldered her bow “Inuyasha, I’m coming!” Kagome sprinted across the baths to the dressing room and began desperately throwing aside pieces of wood, slowly making headway into the rubble. “Inuyasha, can you hear me?” With every call that received no response, Kagome grew a little more panicked. She hadn’t lost anyone on a job yet and she was damned if she would let her first causality be a man from another company. Throwing aside a piece of window frame, she discovered an opening, a passage just big enough for her to crawl through that might lead to an opening – to Inuyasha. She scrambled through, continuing to call his name and finally, _finally_ , when she could see the space open up, she saw his foot. “Inuyasha,” she yelled, throwing herself forward and grabbing his foot in desperation.

“K-Kagome,” he groaned.

 _He’s alive_. “Don’t move, Inuyasha, are you okay? It’s almost over now, Sango and Miroku are sealing what’s left and then we’re gonna be able to get you out of here.” Kagome scrambled out of the opening and moved to his side. The area where they were was just high enough that she could stand upright, although her head brushed the fallen beams.

“No, Kagome-” he groaned, trying to sit up.

“Stop it,” she said firmly, pushing his shoulders back down with gentle hands. “Don’t sit up. Are you okay?” She scanned his body, gasping at the blood that was staining his shirt. “Oh Inuyasha!” He tried to cover the growing stain on his stomach with his hands but Kagome pushed them aside easily and lifted his shirt, revealing a significant wound in his stomach that was bleeding more than Kagome cared to think about. Quickly taking an arrow from her quiver, she cut open the leg of her pants and tore off a jagged piece of fabric to press into the wound. “You’re gonna be okay, it’s gonna be okay,” she said, more to herself than to Inuyasha.

“No, Kagome,” he moaned again.

“ _You’re going to be alright, okay,_ ” she practically yelled, tears prickling the corners of her eyes. “ _I’m not giving you a choice. You’re going to hang on until the others get here and then we’re going to-_ ” she gasped as his hand gripped her arm tightly, almost too tightly. His nails, human now but still so sharp, began to dig into her skin. “Inuyasha you’re hurting me.”

“Kagome,” he gasped. “Demon. Its inside. Controlling me.”

“What,” she shrieked as Inuyasha’s other hand reached up and took her other arm and then suddenly she was being thrown across him in the narrow space, thrown into rubble that sent dust scattering down on to them. “Inuyasha what is it, you’re human right now, not a half-demon, what are you doing?” But Inuyasha’s eyes were glazed. His face was pale from the blood loss but he pushed himself to his knees anyway and looked as though he might attack Kagome again. “Inuyasha, stop it, please,” Kagome cried, “Tell me what’s happening!”

A hundred emotions flashed across his face before his brown eyes cleared momentarily. “A shard of the demon,” he panted. “In my stomach. Controlling me. Get away.” He cried out then and his eyes clouded over a second time. He crouched and leapt at Kagome, but she shot her leg out, landing a solid kick on his jaw that knocked him off balance. The kick seemed to stun him and gave her a moment to think, though her thoughts were racing almost faster than she could keep up.

 _A shard of the demon. It’s in his stomach. The wound. Not sealed yet. Sango and Miroku won’t be able to stop it. Gotta dig it out._ _The blood loss_. Inuyasha was rising again, coming at her again. She had a slight advantage that she could stand to her full height in the space; he was taller than her and had to continually crouch, so that could affect his balance. She tried to sweep his legs and knock him off his feet but he lunged forward before she could connect and she suddenly found herself pinned beneath him, his snarling face inches from her own.

“I’m sorry, Inuyasha,” she said before sinking her fist into his gut and using the momentary opening it gave her to flip and pin him beneath her. She sat down on his thighs and adjusted her stance so that she was pinning his upper arms down with her feet. It wasn’t a strong enough position to hold him for long, but she hoped that it would be enough until she could get the shard of the demon shell out of him. She grabbed another arrow from the floor and gripped it tightly. She knew what needed to be done but she was afraid to do it. If he had still been a half demon she would’ve had hope that he could survive such an injury. But he was human. And he had already lost a lot of blood.

“Do it,” came his gravelly voice, his eyes were shut tight but his face showed the internal fight he was waging to not buck Kagome off.

“But Inuyasha, you could die if I do.”

“And you’ll die if you don’t, so do it.” His eyes cracked open, clear and brown and shining, “ _now_.”

Kagome channeled her spiritual powers and looked into Inuyasha’s stomach, searching for, and finding, the spot where the demon shard had burrowed. She raised the arrow and plunged in deep into his stomach, earning her a yowl of pain from Inuyasha that morphed and took on, just for a moment, the sound of the demon that was being sealed. A quick flash and Kagome knew that it was gone. Sango and Miroku had been confident that they could handle what was left of the demon out there. With this, the illusion should have disappeared and they would be on their way. They’d be here soon.

But Inuyasha had stopped moving. His head had fallen to the side as the demon’s last scream escaped his lips. Kagome threw aside her arrow and scrambled off of Inuyasha, crawling up to his side and bending over him, carefully taking his face in her hands. “Inuyasha? Inuyasha! _Inuyasha!_ ” But he didn’t move, a single sigh escaped his lips, then nothing more. Kagome began to cry and kept screaming his name as if by some miracle she could bring him back as long as she kept calling for him. She gathered him to her chest, one arm reaching under his torso to pull him into her lap, the other gently cradling his head, pulling it in to rest in the crook of her neck. And she screamed, and she cried, her tears falling and mixing with the blood that pooled on the floor of the collapsed room. She didn’t notice when Sango and Miroku arrived. She didn’t notice them tossing away the rubble, clearing a path into the outside world again. She did notice when they tried to separate them, when they tried to lift Inuyasha out of her grasp, to pull her from the rubble. She did notice that, and she fought against them, screaming wordlessly and crying and kicking at them. She wouldn’t let go of Inuyasha, not yet.


	8. So I guess this is goodbye?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story draws to a close for the demon slayers.

When the demon had disappeared completely, Sango and Miroku hadn’t wasted any time rushing to the collapsed dressing room, throwing rubble away from the scene to clear a path, trying to move carefully to avoid causing a cave-in. They had moved faster when they heard Kagome’s screams. When they lifted a large piece of drywall out of the way, the early light of pre-dawn had illuminated the scene before them. Inuyasha, with his skin too pale and his hair too dark. Blood on his hands, on the ground around him, on Kagome. And Kagome, face contorted in pain, arrows scattered around her, cradling an unresponsive body to her chest and screaming loud enough to wake the judges of the dead.

They had tried to move her – move them both – out of the rubble, into the clear air of the morning, but Kagome had fought them. She screamed and kicked, doing anything in her power to not let go on Inuyasha, as if her touch was the only thing keeping his soul tethered to the earth. Kagome was mostly wailing now, her voice failed to form words but her sobs told the story of a boy she knew too little about.

“Kagome,” Miroku said, kneeling down beside her in the rubble.

“ _No, no, no, no_ ,” Kagome chanted, shaking her head. She didn’t want to hear it; she couldn’t stand to hear it right now.

“All we can do for him now is pray,” Miroku said gently. Inuyasha had told him once, the night his secret was discovered, that the transformation was only temporary, that he returned to his half-demon state at dawn of the next morning. For a half-demon, a wound like this would be inconvenient, but not impossible to survive. He looked to the east, and said a silent prayer as the first light of dawn broke over the horizon.

For a too long and heavy moment, the air was still, there was no movement besides Kagome’s shuddering body, no sound but her heartbreaking sobs. And then – a pulse. If Kagome felt it, she made no indication. Miroku stood as he felt the second pulse of energy sweep through the area. Slowly, starting from the blood-soaked tips, Inuyasha’s hair began to lighten. His nails lengthened into claws and his dog ears flicked back into existence, as if some unseen hand had been holding them flat. This is what initially caught Kagome’s attention, one of his ears brushed against her face.

Tears still falling freely over her cheeks, Kagome pulled herself back, extending her arms to look at Inuyasha’s face, to notice the fangs that had returned to his slightly open mouth. “ _Inuyasha_ ,” she breathed, barely daring to speak, as if by speaking she might break the spell that transformed him.

A beat. A moment, then two. Then, a sigh escaped his lips and his face scrunched in recognition of his pain.

“Inuyasha,” she’d cried, a little louder than before, “Inuyasha you’re alive?”

His eyes had opened then, finally, just enough to reveal clear golden irises. “Kagome?”

“Oh Inuyasha,” she cried again, her tears renewing in her gratitude. Carefully, oh so carefully, she pulled him back into her chest, folding herself over him so that he might be moved as little as possible, and whispered, “I thought I’d lost you.”

 _Kagome, you cried for me?_ His lips tried to form the words but his body was too weak for the moment. Or at least, that’s what he told himself. He was hurt quite badly but it would only take a few days to recover in his current state. All too soon, Kagome was peeling off of him, moving back to reveal the relieved faces of Sango and Miroku as well. _We made it_ , he thought to himself.

What filled the next few minutes was a careful dance of Inuyasha being lifted out the rubble and negotiating the way back to their room. He’d insisted that he was fine to walk, but his legs had protested otherwise. He’d then insisted that his sword was support enough, but no one believed him at that point. Miroku had taken up supporting him under his right arm, and Sango, who had an inch or two on Kagome, took up the support under this left, and the two had practically carried him back to the room and laid him out on the bed. Thankful for a soft spot to rest, though he would never admit to it, Inuyasha allowed his eyes to drift closed while the others bustled around him, gathering towels and fetching first aid kits. The mornings after the new moon were usually difficult for Inuyasha. Although as a half-demon, staying up all night was minor inconvenience, and usually solved on patrols by entering a dozing half-awake state for a period of time, it was more taxing to stay up as a human. Combine that with a near death experience and Inuyasha could feel his exhaustion sitting on him like a heavy blanket. When he opened his eyes and found the room silent and empty, save for Kagome resting her head on crossed arms at the edge of his mattress, bleary eyes watching him carefully, he knew he must’ve fallen asleep.

“Hey,” Kagome said, picking up her head, “Are you awake this time?”

He guessed he must’ve opened his eyes a few times already. Miroku had told him once he tended to do that in his sleep. “Yeah,” he said, his voice coming out more gravely than he had anticipated.

“Miroku and Sango went to explain what happened to the owner and settle up everything,” she explained. _Ahh_ , he thought. So they were alone. “I cleaned up the wound in your stomach,” she continued, “Miroku says that half-demons have superior healing powers so he thinks you’ll be okay in a few days but I didn’t want to take any chances with it getting infected.”

“Why . . .”

“Why did I clean your wounds?”

“Why did you cry for me?”

Kagome blushed and looked away, hair falling across her shoulder and obscuring her face. He wanted to push it away, but he didn’t trust his hand. His claws could still scratch her, still scare her. Perhaps she had only cried and held him close because his body had been human.

“Because I was scared,” she said her voice barely a whisper. “I was scared that I lost you.”

“You don’t even know me.”

She turned back to him, her brown eyes locking onto his with a clear and steady gaze. “I know enough. And I want to know more.” 

Inuyasha felt a familiar warmth rise up in his chest. Warmth he hadn’t felt in a long time. But with it rose familiar doubts, scars and a painful memory of a night that had changed everything for him. 

“Last night,” Kagome said, her voice interrupting Inuyasha’s thoughts, “was the first time you said my name.” Inuyasha’s train of thought crashed to a stop. _Huh?_ “Before then, you kept calling me Kikyo. But last night you called my name when you broke out of the dressing rooms. You were trying to protect me because you heard me scream and didn’t know what was going on. And then I tried to protect you,” she said, her voice starting to quiver with the threat of more tears. “And I wasn’t sure you were going to make it.” Her hands, oh so close to his own, gripped the bed sheets as she fought to control her emotions. “When I thought you’d died, I-” 

He wanted to touch her. Wanted to hold her hand, even if it was just for a moment. Instead he asked, “Would you give it up, if you had to?”

Her brows had knit together at that. “What do you mean?”

“This is the first job you’ve had right?” Kagome nodded, confused. “If you had to leave it," _no that’s not what he needed to say_ , “If someone you cared about asked you-” _Fuck, why was this so difficult?_

“Inuyasha what is it?” He took in her red-rimmed and puffy brown eyes, her long wavy black hair, the way her breath still hiccupped occasionally as she tried not to cry.

“If you had to give up someone you cared about or leave your life’s work, what would you choose?” He couldn’t meet her eyes when he asked. He couldn’t watch the emotions fly across her face before she said she’d leave him behind. He was dreading that cold, miserable feeling in his gut that would set in when she said it. But it was better to know now. No sense in getting his hopes up again.

“Why would I have to choose?”

His eyes snapped up to meet hers. “What?”

“Why would I have to choose,” she repeated. “Why can’t I have both?”

“If . . . well if you, if you had – if something happens and you had to choose between someone you cared for and your work, which would you choose?”

Kagome was silent for a long time, her eyes searching his, even as he avoided meeting her eye, searching for some answer he couldn’t communicate. Finally he saw realization dawn on her face and he braced himself for the worst.

“That’s what Kikyo asked you, didn’t she?” His eyes snapped to hers. “She wanted to quit, and she asked you to quit with her, didn’t she?”

Inuyasha’s gaze fell again. She had seen right through his plan, of course she had, he was stupid to think he could’ve fooled her. Of course, she’d take Kikyo’s side, they were cousins after all. He didn’t deserve someone like that, someone like Kagome. Kikyo had been clear on that front. He was selfish and cowardly and that’s all he would ever be.

“Inuyasha that’s not a choice I could make,” Kagome said.

“Kagome, stop, you don’t-”

“Because there isn’t a choice there,” she interrupted. “I don’t have to give up either one. Even if something happens and I don’t want to be a slayer anymore, that wouldn’t change how I feel about someone.” He tried to catch her gaze but she was avoiding looking at him, instead focusing on her hands on the edge of the mattress. “Inuyasha I could _never_ ask you to stop doing this just because I got tired of it, that wouldn’t be fair. I could quit, and I could worry about you, about your safety,” she trailed her fingers lightly across the back of his hand, touching the tips of his claws, “I might be scared for you, but if I asked you to stop just because I was scared, it just wouldn’t work. If you did you’d come to resent me for asking, or I’d feel guilty about making you give up something so important just for me. I could never ask you to do that.” Kagome let her words settle down around Inuyasha like a blanket, letting him fully absorb them before she stood up and said, “You must be tired, I’ll let you get some rest. I can tell Miroku that you’re doing okay now.”

“Kagome,” he said, catching her fingers before she moved out of reach. “Will you stay? Just – for a little while?”

Kagome hesitated, then said, “Of course, Inuyasha,” and sat back down in her chair next to the bed. Inuyasha was still holding the tips of her fingers as his eyes closed and he fell asleep again.

The rest of the day had passed in a blur of unimportant events. Inuyasha immediately resumed his tough attitude when Miroku and Sango came back and by afternoon he was already sitting up and barking orders at Miroku for what paperwork would need to be filled out or how their bags should be repacked. Sango had shared that the owner wasn’t too happy with the additional damage to the onsen but was more relieved that the demon had been dealt with completely. Miroku had handled the negotiations and had secured both companies a comfortable payout, as well as an offer for the four of them to return for a more relaxing visit in the future. They agreed to stay one final night, officially under the pretense of making sure no other demon caused trouble, but secretly so that Inuyasha could continue resting.

The next morning, they checked out and found themselves parting ways at the train station. The boys would be heading back to the west and the girls were headed slightly south so they prepared to make their goodbyes.

“You know, Inuyasha,” Sango said, extending her hand, “You’re not half bad as a fighter. Let me know if you ever want a sparring partner and I’ll come up there kick your ass for an afternoon.”

Inuyasha let out a surprised, “ _Keh_! Like a human like you could do any damage against me.”

“You’d be surprised; I bet I could hold my own. And I bet I could take you down on your human night.”

Inuyasha smirked and grasped Sango’s hand. “You’re on, slayer girl.”

Meanwhile Miroku had opened his arms to offer Kagome a goodbye hug. She made a questioning face and quirked an eyebrow at him, to which he replied, “No funny stuff, I promise.” So she’d cautiously stepped in to a surprisingly warm hug. “Thanks for all you did for Inuyasha, Kagome. Don’t give up on him just yet; I think you two might really have something.”

Kagome smiled as they pulled apart, “I won’t. Not yet at least.” She smiled as Miroku made a show of clasping one of her hands in both of his, winking as he subtly slipped Inuyasha’s number into her palm, then turning his attention to Sango, who regarded him with a suspicious stare.

“So you’re gonna take on Inuyasha, I hear,” he said, sidling up next to her.

“So what if I am?”

“Oh just thinking you might need a referee there to call the shots.”

“Well it’s not like I can stop you. Probably good we have someone else there to clean up after I wipe the floor with him.”

“Excellent. Then it’s a date. I’ll see you next month, Sango,” Miroku said coolly as he sidled away towards his and Inuyasha’s train platform.

Sango sputtered a bit before managing to get out, “Miroku, you jerk!” and stormed off in the direction of her own train platform, leaving Kagome and Inuyasha alone for a few last moments.

Inuyasha scuffed his shoe on the ground nervously, avoiding looking at Kagome. “Hey,” he started. “I should-”

“Inuyasha,” she interrupted, “Are you feeling better now? Your wounds are healing okay?”

“Yeah,” he said, placing a hand on his stomach and feeling the bandages wrapped underneath. “Doubt it’ll even scar. Should be totally healed in another day or two.”

Kagome made a humming noise, “Perhaps it would be good if I still came up to check on you sometime, though. I’d feel bad if there were any lasting effects from me, you know, stabbing you with a sacred arrow.”

 _Kagome, come see him?_ “Yeah, sure, if you want.” _Stupid, stupid, stupid, say something less lame!_

“Cool. Oh and thanks for looking out for me this weekend. I appreciate it but I want you to know that I can take care of myself, too.”

“Yeah, I – uh – I realize that now.”

“Good,” Kagome said, “If you find yourself down south my way you should come by the training camp and see me in action.”

 _Is she asking me out?_ Inuyasha’s brain felt like it was turning to pudding.

The PA system overhead announced the arrival of Kagome and Sango’s train arriving momentarily. “Well, that’s me,” she said. “Come see me soon, okay?” Before she could lose her nerve, Kagome stretched up and gave a quick peck to Inuyasha’s cheek. Inuyasha was helpless to do anything but stare after her as she disappeared up the stairs towards her platform. Moving on autopilot, he turned and climbed the stairs to his own platform, finding Miroku scrolling through his phone while he waited for their train to arrive.

“So, judging by the lack of yelling, I’d say your goodbye with Kagome went smoothly?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Inuyasha said blankly.

“So, when’s your next date?”

“Date? What are you talking about?”

“Well you asked her out, didn’t you?”

“What the hell are you talking about, Miroku?”

“Seriously? You’ve been making big moon-eyes at her since you woke up yesterday, and you didn’t ask her on a _date?_ ”

“Why would I do that, it’s not like she likes me like that or nothin’.”

Miroku just sighed heavily, “I should’ve known, you’ve never been good at reading the mood; I don’t know why I thought you’d be different this time.”

“Listen you idiot,” Inuyasha started, however he was interrupted by the arrival of their train to the platform. Miroku knew when to sidestep a fight and so kept his mouth shut as they boarded and began their travel home. Inuyasha turned the thought over in his mind a few times, _Kagome might like him? No, that couldn’t be true_. But when his phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number, he caught Miroku’s smirk out of the corner of his eye. He opened the message anyway which read “Hey, it’s Kagome ♥” and just for a moment he let the little voice inside him ask, _But what if she did?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much I as I enjoyed writing it! These last two chapters were my absolute favorite to write. (p.s. - if you've been reading live, sorry I keep forgetting what my update days are supposed to be and uploading late.) If you'd like to see more from this AU, consider leaving a comment, or check out some of my other short stories.

**Author's Note:**

> A big thank you to my friends Katlyn and Regina who encouraged me to write this and helped me problem solve various plot points. I opted not to call it by its working title "Hot Spring Demon Machine" but maybe I'll change that later if enough people prefer that title. I hope you enjoy, I'm going to try and post new chapters weekly!


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